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THE DIARY OF 
A GERMAN SOLDIER 




THE DIARY OF 
A GERMAN SOLDIER 



BY 



FELDWEBEL C. 



First Sergeant 88th Infantry 
21st Division^ 18th Army Corpg 




New York 

ALFRED A. KNOPF 

1919 



7 



COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY 
ALFRED A. KNOPF, Ikc. 



FES 24 ISI9 ' 



^ c^, to •-' 



PBINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



O c» 



@)C1.A5I24^^ 



PREFACE 

A very few pages of these war memoirs will 
convince the reader that their author held an 
important position in the German army. Al- 
though Sergeant C only bore the chev- 
rons of a non-commissioned officer, he was, 
nevertheless, virtually an officer in everything 
but name. His duties, as sometimes also hap- 
pens in the French army, were akin to those 
of an officer. He played an important part 
on the so-called staff of his battalion. In turn, 
he was secretary, interpreter, and liaison of- 
ficer. He frequently performed missions of 
trust and often carried confidential dispatches. 
Besides, he enjoyed all the prestige which the 
German army attaches to the rank of "Ein- 
jahrig-Freiwillige." ^ He dined with his su- 
perior officers and, when not on duty, mingled 
with them on an equal footing. 

1 A young man of the upper classes, who, at his own expense, 
serves in the army for one year. There is no corresponding 
term in English. — Translator. 

3 



4 Preface 

The special and relatively independent posi- 
tion which this rather well-informed and ob- 
servant young man occupied, from August 1st, 
1914, to October, 1916, enabled him to see 
much and to give us a vivid picture, always 
interesting, though presented with extreme 
simplicity, of the events of which he was an 

eye-witness. As a matter of fact, C is no 

writer and kept a diary much more for his per- 
sonal satisfaction than because of any literary 
aspirations. It is precisely because of this 
complete lack of pretension and because of the 
author's undeniable freedom of thought that it 
seemed to us that these memoirs would find 
favour in the eyes of the French public. We 
shall see some of those barbaric scenes and acts 
of vandalism which have dishonoured the 
German army, presented in broad dayhght. 

C , with great accuracy, gives the places, 

the date, and almost always the name, the rank 
and the unit of the German officers who so 
often delighted in overwhelming innocent civil- 
ians with all possible abuses, committed with 
barbaric brutality and lewd passion. In this 



Preface 8 

respect, the testimony of C constitutes a 

valuable document to support the indictment 
which the Allies have been drawing up against 
Germany for the past three years: those atro- 
cious crimes, as for instance the secret mas- 
sacre of twenty French civilians, both male and 
female, with bayonets, ordered at Braucourt 
on August 29th, 1914, by Colonel Puder, have 
been verified in every detail and with all neces- 
sary care. 

This little book possesses still another inter- 
est of a purely historic nature; for these sim- 
ple daily jottings in reality constitute the com- 
plete history, for the first two years of the war, 
of a German battalion which was closely con- 
nected with its regiment, its brigade, its divi- 
sion and often even its army corps. Even 
though the author is far from being an artist, 
or perhaps just because of that, this book 
faithfully portrays the aspect and the local 
colour of the different phases of the war on 
various fronts: Luxemburg, Artois, Picardy, 
Champagne, Galicia and the Vosges. For in- 
stance we learn under what conditions a Ger- 



6 Preface 

man division went back and forth between the 
French and Russian fronts and how long it 
took them to do it in those distant days when 
they still did. 

In 1916, the author, thoroughly disgusted 
with Prussian militarism, decided to escape to 
Denmark, and it is from that countr\^ that this 
work has reached us. After fighting bravely 
for nineteen months both in France and Ga- 

licia, Feldwebel C was seriously woimded 

at the beginning of the attack on Verdun 
(February 23rd, 1916) and spent four months 
in a hospital at Frankfort. He had scarcely 
recovered when he was returned to the front. 
However, the surgeons again sent him back to 
Germany, where the authorities finally recog- 
nized him to be unfit for active seirice. He 
was transferred to the auxihary service and 
was sent to join a non-combatant battahon 
which was working on the fortifications of the 
Danish border in Schleswig. Thus Feldwebel 
C left the German army after having dis- 
charged his full duty and at a moment when he 
was not under fire. His desertion has nothing 



Preface 7 

dishonourable about it and this is important 
as regards the extent of confidence which we 
should place in his opinions and criticisms. 

We believe that this rather sternly written 
but complete book forms a unique document: 
the war experiences of a German witness, a 
brave soldier, but still very liberal minded and 
above all perfectly straightforward and sin- 
cere. 

Louis-Paul Alaux. 

Paris, January 15, 1918. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

CHAFTEB 

I. Mobilization. News of mobilization — en- 
thusiasm at Hanau — ^patriotic speeches and 
songs, 15 

II. The Departure. From the barracks to the 
depot — on the train, 23 

III. Luxemburg. Cold reception by the inhabit- 
ants — reconnoitering, 27 

IV. Arlon. Proclamation to the people — execu- 
tion of two women — the sacking of a house 
of ill-fame — pillaging the Chateau de Bar- 
benson, S3 

V. Lenglier. The battle of Lenglier — a 
woman and her husband murdered — fires — 
Merbach suddenly becomes savage; his 
death — German losses, 43 

VI. Bertrix. The battle of Bertrix — the gal- 
lantry of the French, 50 

VII. Matton. Scenes of plundering — Germany 
preparing for war for forty-four years — 
Major Schmidt leader of a band of brig- 
ands — Carrignan — Villmontrj^, 55 

VIII. Autrecourt. The battle of Sedan — ambu- 
lances — serious German losses — crossing 
the Meuse, 62 
9 



10 Contents 

CHAPTER 

IX. Raucourt. Lieutenant Kedor our new aide- 
de-camp — murder of civilians and firing of 
Raucourt — Kedor and the General's adju- 
tant — the old woman and the Prussian non- 
commissioned officer before the Marne, 67 

X. The Battle of the Marne. Sermaize-les- 
Bains — new recruits — bitter fighting — our 
losses — Sagny-sur-F Angle — more comfort- 
able to the rear — the retreat — Lieutenant 
Kedor's heroism — lack of discipline among 
the discouraged Germans^ 79 

XI. Rheims. The guard — capture of the fort at 
Brimont — some champagne — ^the foreign 
legion, 92 

XII. The March on Roye. Pillage — the rape 
of two young girls — the fearless Kedor — 
English or Germans? — a little party in- 
terruptedj 97 

XIII. Ercheu-Solente-Champieu. Violent fight- 

ing — fierce resistance of the French — 
death of Schmidt's son — scenes of hor- 
ror^ 105 

XIV. Roye. Commanding officer Schlegler has six 

French prisoners executed — Schlegler's 
death — Kedor wounded — Schmidt leaves 
us — the beginning of trench warfare — 
trench attacks — our losses — ^preparing the 
trenches,, 110 

XV. The Germans at Roye. German adminis- 
tration at Roye — deportation of men into 
Germany — ^women forced to work — de- 
struction of the church — Christmas — 
Rogge, our new commanding officer — St. 
Sylvester — an alarm — Schmidt returns, 
116 



Contents 



11 



CHAPTER 

XVI. 



XVII. 
XVIII. 



XIX. 



XX. 



XXI. 



XXII. 



XXIII. 



Formation of the 56th Division. We 
are given Russian rifles — the Commandant 
of Ham and his angel — a new division — 
a clean sweep of wine — departure for At- 
tigny, 130 

GivRY. Engagement with cavalry — a lover 
of fowl — the Kaiser at Vouziers, 135 

In Champagne. The Devil's Hole — a veri- 
table hell — Ripont — night attacks — 
Schmidt out of favour — Eger made head of 
the battalion — his brutality — departure^ 
142 

Across Germany and Austria. Sedan — 
Sarrelouis — Kaiserslautern — Hanau — 
Goerlitz — in Galicia, 155 

In Galicia. Our first marches — the lice — 
Mackenson — Eger and Rogge again — the 
Jews, 162 

First Battles in Galicia. Crossing the 
San — small glory in taking Wiazownica 
— the Russian retreat — we capture Ra- 
dawa^ 171 

Radawa. Quarrel with an officer of the 
Uhlans — story of five cows and one Gali- 
cian peasant — Bortger — Italy declares war 
— a new officer in command — the cooties — 
the Germans fire on the Austrians, 179 

Last Battles in Galicia and Our Return 
TO France. We advance — cowardice of 
commanding officer Lindwurm — the Bava- 
rians butcher wounded and prisoners — a 
feast of roast veal — we leave for France — 
we are disinfected, 190 



12 



Contents 



CHAPTER 

XXIV. 



XXV. 



XXVI. 



XXVII. 



XXVIII. 



XXIX. 



Herin. Rest — Lindwurm is decorated — no 
furlough for me^ 201 

Headquarters at Valenciennes. Head- 
quarters — administration of the city — 
trade in papers — escapes into Holland — 
fight between the Bavarians and the Prus- 
sians — a German soldier murders a young 
French girl^ 205 

The Battle of Champagne (September, 
1915). Saverne — state of mind of the 
Alsatians — to Champagne with all speed — 
the battle of Champagne — cowardice of 
Captain Lindwurm — order of the day from 
Colonel von Einem, 218 

Douai — In Champagne. Douai — the Prus- 
sian ■ gallantry of Captain Lindwurm — 
in Champagne for the third time: a 
mine explodes — the battalion in disgrace 
— Christmas- — ^we leave for the great at- 
tack on Verdun, 231 

Verdun — Frankfort — Mayence. Be- 
fore Verdun — the attack of February 21st 
— I am wounded — the hospital at Frank- 
fort — rreturn to Verdun — in the auxiliar- 
ies, 242 

At the Danish Border. Defense and 
fortification against an English attack via 
Denmark, 250 ^ 



THE DIARY OF 
A GERMAN SOLDIER 



THE DIARY OF A GERMAN 
SOLDIER 

On October 1st, 1913, I joined the 2nd 
Battalion, 6th Company, of the 88th Regiment 
as a "Freiwilliger." ^ My regiment formed 
part of the 42nd Infantry Brigade (21st Divi- 
sion, 18th Army Corps) . As all the "Freiwil- 
hge" do, I entered the reserve officers' training 
corps. 

As soon as war was declared, I was assigned, 
because of my knowledge of French, as inter- 
preter and attached to the so-called staff of my 
battalion. I held this position for the first 
two years of the war and shared the fortunes 
of the second battalion up to the moment when 
I was transferred to the auxiliary service be- 
cause of a serious wound which I received dur- 
ing the attack on Verdun on February 23rd, 
1916. 

Perhaps the reader of these simple cam- 

1 See footnote, page 1 of Preface. 

13 



14t The Diary of a German Soldier 

paign notes will sometimes be tempted to be- 
lieve that I have exaggerated a little. Never- 
theless, in the following pages, I have only- 
told of those happenings at which I was actu- 
ally present, of those sights which I beheld 
with my own eyes. Besides I am sure that 
later on the tales of the inhabitants of the in- 
vaded territories will fully confirm these mem- 
oirs. 



MOBILIZATION 

Immediately after the assassination of the 
heir to the Austrian throne at Sarajevo an al- 
most undefinable restlessness was noticeable 
all over Germany. Many people said that 
this event could bring on grave complications 
in which Germany might be entangled and 
that it might even result in a European war. 
Alas, our anxiety was justified. As a matter 
of fact, on the 23rd of July, 1914, on the very 
day on which the Austrian ultimatum was 
dispatched to Serbia, an order of the general 
commanding the 18th Army Corps informed 
us that the manoeuvres for which we were pre- 
paring had been called off and that we were 
to hold ourselves in readiness for a general 
mobilization order. From the 23rd to the 
30th of July all the men from our corps who 

15 



16 The Diary of a German Soldier 

were on leave were recalled and ordered to 
join their regiments with all possible speed. 

At 3 P.M. on July 30th, 1914, the 2nd 
Battalion was ordered to guard the bridges 
over the Main, the railroads, and the ap- 
proaches to the powder works at Hanau-on- 
the-Main. I, personally, received an order to 
take a detachment of twenty-four men to 
guard the great railroad bridge which crosses 
the Main between Hanau and Klein- Stein- 
heim. Lieutenant Merbach accompanied us 
as far as the bridge, to give me the necessary 
instructions. I asked him to do me the favour 
of calling at the station for my mother whom 
I expected that day. Then, after placing my 
sentinels, I had nothing to do but watch the 
many trains crowded with soldiers which were 
continually crossing the bridge. My mother 
told Merbach that the 47th Artillery Regi- 
ment (11th Corps) had already left in field- 
grey. Every person passing over the bridge 
had to be brought to me and my instructions 
were to question them all carefully, keeping 
on the look-out for spies. Several officer- 



Mobilization 17 

patrols passed by, all cautioning me to watch 
diligently and to look out for everything. 

At 4 A. M. on the thirty-first the soldiers who 
brought us our coffee told us that the men of 
the 5th Company were already in field-grey. 
A guardsman, named Wagner, from Fles- 
heim, then called out: 

"Well, that's something more than a hoax; 
it begins to look serious. This means that the 
Crown Prince has gained his point and the 
Emperor will not delay the declaration of war. 
Why should he care? His six boys are not 
going to be under fire; but we'll have to burn 
our fingers pulling their chestnuts out of the 
fire. We are going to sell our skins, but will 
you just tell me why and for whom?" 

I told him to keep quiet or I would have to 
punish him, but he kept on: 

"Oh, come on! Sir, there are many soldiers 
and non-commissioned officers too who do not 
want war. As for me, I am a socialist. ..." 

Again I told him to keep quiet, or I would 
have him taken to prison on the spot. 

When I spoke to Merbach about this on the 



18 The Diary of a German Soldier 

following day, he told me not to punish Wag- 
ner in any way. 

At four o'clock in the afternoon we were re- 
lieved. 

In many places, in order to get back to the 
barracks we had to break through an enthusi- 
astic and excited crowd composed mainly of 
women. The people were shouting: "Hur- 
rah for the 88th!" "Long live the emperor!" 
and were singing patriotic songs at the top of 
their voices. In some streets it was impossi- 
ble to make headway. The entire population 
of Hanau had turned out. Especially in 
front of the barracks there was an enormous 
crowd. Every time that a courier appeared 
the civilians fell upon him, shouting: "What 
have you got? Has war been declared? Not 
yet? What a pity!" It was a delirious joy. 
Where is that joy now? 

We had hardly returned to the barracks 
when our company commander. Captain Otto 
Gaup, assembled us all in order to address us. 
During the ten months I had been in his com- 
pany, I had more often seen him drunk than 



Mobilization 19 

sober. Sometimes we were forced to put him 
on his horse, for he would have been quite 
incapable of mounting unaided. This is about 
what he said to us: 

"Dear soldiers: 

"Great historic events are under way. 
Threatening clouds are beginning to obscure 
the political horizon. What will be the conse- 
quences of the Sarajevo assassination? Our 
enemies boldly dare to challenge us and are 
making use of assassins in order to have an 
excuse for war. They wish it. Very well, 
they shall have it. Come what may, we are 
prepared and we shall know how to receive 
them. Dear friends, I do not believe that I 
personally will have the good fortune to lead 
you on to victory, but I am sure that you 
will not only preserve the ancient glory of 
Germany unsullied, but that you will also 
bring back new laurels. Let us place trust 
in our Emperor and our government, in our 
people and above all in ourselves. With this 
hope I ask you to shout with me : 'Long live 
our Emperor and King!' " 



20 The Diary of a German Soldier 

Thereupon he shook hands with us and left. 
I overheard Lieutenant Dehes say to Lieuten- 
ant Popp : "He must surely have had a little 
too much to make him talk such nonsense." 

On August 1st about half -past five a dis- 
patch arrived at headquarters. As soon as the 
commanding officer, Kuhl, opened it he ran 
down into the courtyard of the barracks, ter- 
ribly excited, shouting: 

"Soldiers, men and women, old and young, 
listen, all of you. His Majesty the Emperor 
has ordered mobilization to commence on Au- 
gust 2nd. We are ready and since they dare 
to disturb our peace we shall show those brig- 
ands from across the Rhine and those assassins 
from St. Petersburg of what metal we are 
made. Dear comrades, long live our em- 
peror, for whom we joyfully go to war and 
for whom we are ready to die." Thereupon 
Captain Raabe, commanding the 5th Com- 
pany, with tears in his eyes, began to sing: 
"Heil Dir im Siegerkranz." ^ 

1 " Hail to Thee, Crowned Victor"— (The German National 
Anthem). 



Mobilization 21 

A beelike activity immediately reigned all 
over the barracks. Every one ran from one 
place to another without knowing why. Bay- 
onets were taken to the armoury to be sharp- 
ened. Soldiers' relatives were coming into the 
barracks and soldiers were going out to the 
city. Every one was singing in the streets and 
civilians invited soldiers to have a drink, telling 
them: "See that you give the French a good 
licking!" Bells were ringing at full peal. 
Why? Because one nation was jealous of the 
other and because there were too many people 
in Germany and too little room for them. O 
bells, your former sweet sound was wild on 
that evening; you were no longer calling to 
Christians, but to bloodthirsty wild beasts. 

On August 3rd a nun was arrested near 
the powder works on the suspicion of being 
a spy entrusted with blowing them up. To- 
day she is a Red Cross nurse in the hospi- 
tal of Saint Vincent at Hanau, caring for the 
wounded. 

On the afternoon of August 5th, when all 
were ready to depart, a thorough inspection of 



22 The Diary of a German Soldier 

equipment took place. Major Kuhl handed 
over the command of the 2nd Battahon to 
Major Schmidt. Both addressed us, and we 
all shouted: ''Long live his Majesty, the Em- 
peror and the King." After that every one 
sang in chorus "Deutschland Uber Alles" and 
"Die Wacht Am Rhein." 

Then we were told that we would leave at 
2 A. M. Now that the hour of departure 
was close at hand, the courage of many a brag- 
gart began to fail and give place to a gloomy 
resignation. The food was quite tolerable 
that evening; some jokers called it a funeral 
feast. I went to the city to do a little shop- 
ping and to say good-bye to some friends. 
Later we assembled for the last time at the 
home of Lieutenant Popp of the 5th Company 
and then returned to the barracks. 



II 

THE DEPARTURE 

In the barracks soldiers, instead of resting, 
were playing cards or writing home. They 
paid no attention to the officers and non- 
commissioned officers, who came in and ad- 
vised them to sleep. At midnight the reveille 
sounded and coffee was served. 

Moreover a fine racket had been going on 
everywhere in the city all evening long. The 
cafes and restaurants were filled with civilians 
and soldiers who had not reported at evening 
roll-call. 

A crowd of people surrounded the barracks. 
There were many relatives of soldiers among 
them. An order had been issued preventing 
civilians from entering the barracks. In order 
to avoid affecting scenes and the farewells of 
sobbing mothers and wives, Major Schmidt 
decided to advance the hour of departure, so 

23 



24 The Diary of a German Soldier 

that the battalion left for the station at ten 
minutes past one. 

The band of the 3rd Engineers marched 
first. The people running alongside sang and 
yelled so that you might think you were sur- 
rounded by a crowd of lunatics. All windows 
were opened wide and filled with men and 
women in their night clothes, who shouted 
their good wishes and threw us dainties and 
cigarettes. 

When we arrived at the station we were im- 
mediately ordered into the train so that we 
would be promptly and completely cut off 
from the crowd and farewell scenes would be 
necessarily brief. Only some officers' wives 
had obtained permission to stay on the plat- 
form. Lieutenant Eger's wife fainted after 
kissing her husband. While some ladies car- 
ried her into the waiting room, Eger, without 
showing any ©motion whatsoever, calmly 
sought his compartment. 

I found myself in a compartment with Lieu- 
tenants Merbach and Popp. All of a sudden 
the latter began to cry. Finally the train 



The Departure 25 

started and passed out into the black night. 

At Frankfort refreshments were waiting for 
us on the platform. The ladies of the Red 
Cross served the soldiers, who were almost 
all downcast. The ladies tried to revive their 
spirits and said to them: ^'Courage, friends; 
show that you are men, happy and proud to 
be permitted to shed your blood for the Em- 
peror and the German fatherland." 

Probably these ladies had nothing to do, 
and, being bored at home, they came to the sta- 
tion to pass the time. Otherwise they would 
not have talked such nonsense. It is certainly 
an honour to die for your country if it is at- 
tacked. But had we been attacked? 

We had been ordered to remove our shoulder 
straps so that no one could tell to what unit 
we belonged. In the stations, when civilians 
asked us where we came from, we answered: 
"From hell," or "From the moon." 

Various inscriptions were painted on the 
coaches, such as: "Paris Express," "Down 
with France!" or again "Further declarations 
of war received here." 



26 The Diary of a German Soldier 

In the morning, Popp, Merbach, Loffel- 
hardt and I left our compartment for a car 
filled with baggage from which we could 
calmly survey the landscape. 

Towards six in the evening we finally ar- 
rived at Zerf where we passed the night. We 
were coldly received by the inhabitants. These 
people had once been French and they remem- 
bered it. Captain Ziekenrath, Merbach, Lof- 
f elhardt and I were quartered in the home oi a 
citizen who told us that all his beds were occu- 
pied by his wife and daughters. We had to be 
content with some straw which Merbach's or- 
derly brought us. He had stolen it some- 
where or other. We were so tired that we 
slept soundly on that straw, so soundly, in 
fact, that next morning we were late for roll- 
call. 

On August 7th, 1914, we left Zerf. Our 
train passed through Irsh, Saarburg, Littdorf, 
Frissel, Nittel and Wellen, where we crossed 
the Moselle and the Luxemburg frontier. All 
the soldiers, tired out, were now sad and dis- 
couraged. 



Ill 

LUXEMBURG 

It was about half-past eleven when we ar- 
rived at Alingen. Almost immediately Major 
Schmidt assembled the staff of the battalion 
in order to give us his instructions as to the 
treatment to be accorded to the inhabitants 
of the country. These people were really 
thoroughly familiar with the German lan- 
guage, but they pretended not to understand a 
word of it and insisted on talking French. 
The men composing the staff of the 2nd 
Battalion of the 88th Infantry were Major 
Schmidt; Lieutenant Wunderlich, aide-de- 
camp; Dr. Schafer, the head of the medical 
staff; Dr. Wolkewiz; Lieutenant Merbach; 
Sergeant-Major Hauser; Loffelhardt; and 
myself. 

As interpreter, I was ordered to inform the 
inhabitants that it would be greatly to their 

27 



28 The Diary of a German Soldier 

advantage to welcome the soldiers and to do 
their utmost to avoid quarrels. 

Merbach, Loffelhardt and I were quartered 
on a woman whose brother had left Paris on 
August 4th, 1914. He told us that every one 
in Paris blamed the Crown Prince for starting 
the war. Merbach answered that he was only 
one of the many guilty ones. This woman 
gave us an excellent dinner. In the afternoon, 
the doctor inspected the men's feet because 
several of them had been complaining of sore- 
ness. 

At five o'clock, the whole battalion was as- 
sembled on the road leading from Alingen to 
Mensdorf. Colonel Puder, commanding the 
88th, greeted and addressed us. Then, led by a 
band, we left for the city of Luxemburg, arriv- 
ing there at noon on the eighth. The natives 
who watched us pass show^ed without ex- 
ception only hostility. Merbach, Loffelhardt 
and I went on ahead to order the people to 
place pails of water in front of their houses so 
that the soldiers, whose throats were parched 
by the heat, might have a chance to drink. 



Luxemhurg 29 

The battalion halted at Esch, five kilometres 
from the capital of Luxemburg. The men 
were put up in barns and the officers were bil- 
leted on the inhabitants. 

Merbach and I were assigned to a priest who 
received us very badly, telling us that he could 
only give us one single bed. Merbach gravely 
replied that two yoimg men could not possibly 
sleep in one bed, especially in the home of a 
Catholic priest. "What is your religion?" 
asked the priest. *'I am a Cathohc," Merbach 
answered, although he was really a Protestant. 

Merbach and I were ordered to go to Lux- 
emburg immediately to buy cigarettes and va- 
rious things for the battalion. In the tobacco 
shop two ladies were behind the counter as we 
entered. Merbach told them in German that 
we wanted some cigarettes and that we would 
pay for them. The ladies pretended not to im- 
derstand, and one of them said in French : 

"Gentlemen, if you were French, I would 
give you everything you wish for nothing. 
But we cannot bear the sight of 'sauerkrauts.' " 

"Madam," I answered in French, "be care- 



30 The Diary of a German Soldier 

f ul of what you say and whom you address in 
this manner. Some day your words may come 
back to you in an unpleasant fashion." There- 
upon she became thoroughly frightened and 
embarrassed, for she had not thought that we 
could understand French. 

I reassured her, saying that I would not give 
her away. Then she decided to speak Ger- 
man, greatly to the satisfaction of Sergeant- 
Ma j or Vetter who could now make the pur- 
chases on which he hoped to gain a fine profit. 
This swindler really resold these goods to the 
men for much more than he paid for them. 
His thefts assumed guch large proportions that 
Major Schmidt was forced to remove him. 
Later on he was killed in the first engagement 
of the battalion. 

Immediately upon his return to the canton- 
ment, Major Schmidt invited us to have coffee, 
and then our time was our own. 

Our priest received us a little more cordially 
this time. We dined with him. The dinner 
was so good that I did not pay the slightest at- 
tention to Merbach's puns. 



Luccemburg - 31 

On the following day, Merbach, Loffelhardt 
and I were ordered to make a careful inspection 
of the wagons of the battalion. While we 
were thus occupied, the other officers spent 
their time in the cafes, drinking and playing 
cards. 

At seven o'clock we received the following 
order: "The 2nd Battahon of the 88th In- 
fantry will advance from Luxemburg to Ar- 
lon, and will find out whether or not the city is 
still occupied by the enemy. Half a section 
of the 6th Uhlans will supplement the 2nd 
Battalion. Patrols commanded by officers 
and non-commissioned officers will recon- 
noitre." 

By chance, we three, Merbach, Loffelhardt 
and myself, were again chosen by the com- 
mander to be sent to reconnoitre. Our hearts 
beat a little faster, but we could not object, 
since, as they say, orders are sacred. Soon we 
arrived in the city. Those inhabitants whom 
I questioned told us that the Belgian soldiers 
had just left Arlon, scarcely two hours ago. 
The city seemed quiet, so we returned to the 



32 The Diary of a German Soldier 

battalion where Major Schmidt ordered us to 
report to Baron Von Schenk, infantry general 
and commander of the army corps. He was 
then at Luxemburg. The general had a copy 
of our report made by his chief aide-de-camp, 
Major Martens, 

Towards ten o'clock, the battahon, led by a 
band, entered Arlon. All precautions were 
taken to guard against an attack. Arlon was 
occupied by our battalion, a company of ma- 
chine gunners, who set up their loaded pieces 
right in the heart of the city, the 6th Uhlans 
and a battery of the 68rd Artillery. The 5th 
Company took possession of the barracks of 
the city; the three other companies were bil- 
leted in various places. Brigadier-General 
Von der Esch and the chief of staff of the 42nd 
Brigade lived at the Hotel Continental. All 
the officers and non-commissioned officers had 
to live with the men in the cantomnents. 

But Major Schmidt gave Merbach, Loffel- 
hardt and myself permission to live in the city 
at the house of the deputy-major. We stayed 
there up to the very moment of our departure. 



IV 

ARLON 

When we entered Arlon, all the inhabit- 
ants, probably out of curiosity, were at their 
windows or doors. Bands were playing and 
the soldiers singing. The mayor of Arlon, a 
lawyer, was taken as a hostage and placed in 
the town hall under armed guard. The fol- 
lowing proclamation was issued: 

"To the citizens of Arlon! 

"I am having the following proclamation 
made public and I hope that every one will 
heed its commands. 

"The city of Arlon is occupied by German 
troops. Every one must submit to the will of 
the conqueror. Any infraction of the follow- 
ing orders will be severely punished. 

"1. The inhabitants must welcome the sol- 
diers and treat them politely; 

83 



34 The Diary of a German Soldier 

"2. All arms and munitions must be 
brought to the townhall as soon as possible; 

"3. The gathering of more than three per- 
sons on the streets is forbidden; 

"4. The inhabitants must stay in their homes 
from 7 P. M. to 7 a. m. ; 

"5. From 8 p. m. on, there may be no hght 
in the houses. Fires must be put out at the 
same time and no smoke allowed to be seen; 

"6. Every person having any knowledge of 
the movements of the enemy, is asked to re- 
port all information immediately under pain 
of severe punishment ; 

"7. I have taken the mayor of Arlon as a 
hostage. He will be set free as soon as the 
population has conformed to my orders and as 
soon as other guarantees shall have been given. 

"Arlon, August 10, 1914. 
"von der Esch, 
"Brigadier-General." 

A special detachment was ordered to an- 
nounce this proclamation. It was composed 
of Lieutenant Popp, accompanied by two 
non-commissioned officers, two drummers, two 



Arlon 85 

trumpeters and eight men with fixed bayonets. 

I was selected to read the proclamation. 
At every street corner the drums were beaten 
and the civilians gathered to hear the reading 
of General von der Esch's orders. I had to 
read it at least thirty times before I was able 
to return to the house where I lived with Mer- 
bach and Loffelhardt. 

We had hardly returned when Major 
Schmidt sent for us to order us to go to the 
city and requisition some bread and meat at 
the bakers and butchers. In the streets we 
saw lots of soldiers talking with the inhabitants 
by means of signs, which was rather amusing. 

In several shops they told us that soldiers 
had taken things by force without paying for 
them and had insulted the proprietors. Mer- 
bach quieted these people by giving them 
vouchers. In one tobacco shop, a soldier had 
in this manner taken eighty francs' worth of 
cigarettes for his captain and had never come 
back to pay for them. Private Bessler, of the 
6th Company, had gone into a jeweller's — 
supposedly to buy some jewellery. He stuffed 



36 The Diary of a German Soldier 

everything the woman showed him into his 
pockets, and was just about to go off with his 
booty when we came on the scene. Merbach 
boxed his ears and made him return the stolen 
jewels. 

Towards half-past eight as Merbach, re- 
turning to Major Schmidt, was passing police 
headquarters a revolver was fired at him. He 
was not wounded. A policeman was just then 
standing in front of the door. He was imme- 
diately arrested and a council of war was 
hastily organized. It was composed of the 
following members: 

Major Schmidt, chairman. 

First Lieutenant Bertram, prosecuting 

attorney. 
Lieutenant Eger, counsel for the de- 
; fence. 

Brigadier- General von der Esch, 
A captain of the 63rd Artillery, 
Lieutenant Kaufmann of the 6th 

Uhlans 
I was the interpreter. 



judges 



Arlon 87 

The accused was one Louis Empereur, a 
policeman of the city of Arlon, married and the 
father of four children. He had had so far an 
absolutely clear record with the German mili- 
tary authorities. Before the opening of the 
session, I was able to say a few words to him : I 
told him that he had a good chairman and I ad- 
vised him to remember his wife and children 
and to be careful of what he said. He an- 
swered me that he knew what he had to do and 
that I need not worry about him. The session 
commenced and Lieutenant Bertram delivered 
his address. Empereur was accused of: 

1. Having fired at the Prussian Lieutenant 

Merbach, without wounding him ; 

2. Having disobeyed the commands of 

the Brigadier-General's proclamation 
which ordered the inhabitants to give 
up their arms and to carry them to the 
town hall. 

Since the accused did not seem to regret his 
action, the prosecuting attorney asked the 



98 The Diary of a German Soldier 

war-council to make an example of him by 
imposing the death sentence. 

Lieutenant Eger, counsel for the defence, 
pleaded on behalf of Empereur, basing his ar- 
guments on the fact that no arms were found 
in his possession. But the accused cried out: 
"Yes, it was I who fired, and I have onlv one 
regret : that I did not succeed in killing a Ger- 
man!" 

After this avowal he could only be sentenced. 
He was executed at 2 p. m. 

At four o'clock some one fired on a patrol of 
the 6th Uhlans, but again without wounding 
any one. The shot came from a window of a 
disorderly house in front of which the patrol 
was passing. Immediately the Uhlans dis- 
mounted and, assisted by some foot-soldiers of 
the 8th Company of our battalion, went into 
the house where they commenced to maltreat 
the women and to plunder everything. After 
they had stolen all they could carry off they 
arrested two men and two women who were in 
the house and led them before the General. 
At the conclusion of a summary examination 



Arlon 39 

the men were set free, after the girls had de- 
clared them to be innocent, saying that they 
themselves had fired on the Uhlans. Thev 
were immediately executed without a council 
of war. Then the house was given over to 
pillage. Everything that the soldiers could 
not carry off was broken or thrown out of the 
windows. The officers were greatly amused 
at soldiers who had put on women's chemises 
over their uniforms and were running around 
the streets in that costume. 

On August 12th I left, by automobile, with 
Merbach, Loffelhardt and two men to recon- 
noitre in the chateau at B . We had or- 
ders to take photographs and to satisfy our- 
selves as to the side from which a future attack 
might come. We had requisitioned six auto- 
mobiles in Arlon. Loffelhardt, who was a 
good chauffeur, drove. German pickets out- 
side of Arlon had taken such careful precau- 
tions and had dug so many ditches across the 
roads leading into the to^n that we were more 
than an hour getting across it. 

The chateau of B was situated in the 



40 The Diary of a German Soldier 

midst of a large and beautiful park. As soon 
as we arrived, the caretaker came out to meet 
us. He took us into his own house where his 
sixteen- or seventeen-year-old daughter begged 
us to spare him. We told her to have no fear, 
for we were not waging war on civilians. Her 
mother was sick in bed. 

After visiting the chateau, and appropriat- 
ing some arms, we went down to the cellars, 
which were stocked with wine and all sorts 
of provisions. Merbach, who did not wish to 
carry oflP anything without orders from the 
major, sealed all the doors and gave the care- 
taker a paper forbidding any one to take away 
anything from the chateau. 

As soon as we returned we reported to Gen- 
eral von der Esch, telling him that we had not 
seen the enemy. Then we hurried to our 
major in order to tell him of our discovery. 
He gave us permission to return to the cha- 
teau immediately, and to bring back all the 
wines and provisions we wished. The drum- 
major accompanied us to lend a hand in case 
of need. 



Arlon 41 

As we had taken all the keys, it was easy for 
us to re-enter the chateau. I immediately 
went in search of the caretaker, but was greatly 
surprised to find his house empty and in a 
frightful disorder. A labourer, passing by, 
told us of what had happened during our 
absence. Four German soldiers of the 42nd 
Brigade had entered the caretaker's house and 
after maltreating the inmates who fled in ter- 
ror, had ransacked the place, amusing them- 
selves by breaking whatever they could not 
carry off with them. I asked this man if he 
knew what these blackguards had done to the 
young girl, but he could give me no informa- 
tion on that score. 

We then went into the chateau and had 
the contents of the cellars loaded onto carts 
and wagons, belonging to the place, which we 
found in the coach house. We also took awav 
all the horses in the stables. While this was 
going on, Merbach on the first floor was cram- 
ming a large trunk full of linen. The non- 
commissioned officers. Lurch and Loser, as 
their share, were breaking open the drawers 



42 The Diary of a German Soldier 

and taking all the jewels and valuables they 
could find. They gave away many of them to 
their friends. September, 1916, found Pay- 
master Herbert of the 2nd Battalion still 
wearing a bracelet which he got at this time. 
We also took all the saddles and harnesses from 
the stables. Then the expedition started for 
Arlon. Major Schmidt congratulated us, 
saying that we had surpassed his expectations. 

Up to August 17th, we led a fairly agree- 
able existence at Arlon and Luxemburg. 
Almost every day Merbach, Loffelhardt and I 
rode out in an automobile to reconnoitre. But 
Merbach always took us to Luxemburg where 
we spent our time. On our return we pre- 
sented some sketch or other of a spot on which 
we had never set foot, saying that we had seen 
no trace of the enemy. And General von der 
Esch was delighted to have such fine soldiers. 

On August 17th, 1914, we were ordered to 
leave Arlon which did not especially please the 
soldiers, for they would rather have stayed on 
there, eating, drinking, and smoking stuff 
stolen from the inhabitants of the country. 



LENGLIEB 

We advanced for two days, reconnoitring 
right and left for fear of a surprise attack. 

Finally on August 20th, 1914, war began in 
earnest for us. It was our first serious engage- 
ment and it showed me how a most gentle fel- 
low, like my friend Merbach, could suddenly 
become savage in the excitement of battle. 

It was about 6 a. m. and we had just left 
Tintage, where we had been quartered. We 
were marching along the road which leads 
from Martelange to Neufchateau, taking all 
precautions necessary to our safety. Our bat- 
talion was leading. Behind us came the 1st 
and 5th Battalions of the 87th Infantry. The 
80th Fusiliers and the 81st Infantry were on 
our left. 

About 1 p. M. a patrol coming from Len- 
glier notified us that we could advance without 

43 



44 The Diary of a German Soldier 

danger since that locality was not occupied 
by the enemy. After having some soup, pre- 
pared by the field kitchens, we resumed our 
march. All of a sudden, on our right, we 
heard an unwonted noise, altogether new to 
us. We knew right away what it was : a shell. 
Several dropped quite close to us. Major 
"Schmidt immediately gave the following order: 

"The 5th, 6th and 7th Companies will ad- 
vance in skirmish line, taking shelter behind 
the hill which lies before them. The 8th 
Company will stay behind in reserve." 

All the officers, sword in hand, marched in 
front of their men, as in a review. 

The French and Belgians aimed very well 
and, sad to say, were aided by our own 27th 
Artillery who fired at us. After being rein- 
forced by the 87th Infantry, Colonel Puder 
ordered the attack. 

We could see now with our own eyes what 
war, which we only knew from books, really 
is. Men hit by a bullet flung up their arms, 
turned about and fell, dead or wounded. Ev- 
erywhere one heard cries of pain and groans 



Lenglier 45 

mingling with the whizzing of bullets and 
shells, the hurrahs of the soldiers and the com- 
mands of the officers. 

Captain Dunker was wounded twice and 
died that very evening. Lieutenant Eger, 
w^ounded in the hand, soon fell down in a faint. 
The 8th Company, which had until now been 
held in reserve, advanced in its turn to the left 
of the 5th Company. 

All of a sudden the village of Lengher be- 
gan to burn and the two last named companies 
were ordered to take possession of it. The 
staff of the 2nd Battalion, to which I be- 
longed, was now on the right wing of the 2nd 
Company. Lieutenant Brunn, an officer 
much loved by all his soldiers, fell just as he 
was giving an order, pierced through the heart. 
Non-Commissioned Officer Steinbach fell at 
the same time. 

At last we actually entered Lengher, which 
presented a sad spectacle. Houses were burn- 
ing everywhere; the streets were strewn with 
the bodies of soldiers and horses. A Belgian 
officer was lying across a beam that was still 



46 The Diary of a German Soldier 

burning. His body was half burnt and his 
distorted face expressed horrible pain. This 
unfortunate man had fallen there, wounded, 
and must have been slowly burned alive. 

Merbach and I, with our orderlies, were just 
then at a telephone post in the depot. All of 
a sudden we heard the screams of women and 
children. Going out into the street we saw a 
group of civilians, composed of four men, two 
women and five children, in the midst of a troop 
of officers and soldiers. Soldiers were kicking 
these unfortunate people and striking them 
with their rifle butts. The soldiers accused 
them of having fired at Colonel von Kriestein, 
commanding the 87th Infantry, who had just 
been wounded. He died in Germany shortly 
after. Their guilt could not be proven, for 
French, Belgian and German bullets were 
whizzing in every direction. Merbach took 
these unhappy people under his protection. 
In another house nearby a woman, holding a 
young child in her arms, was killed by a mus- 
ket blow in the presence of her husband. He 
was later stabbed with a Jbayonet by a soldier 



Lenglier 47 

of the 87th. I do not know what became of 
the child. 

In front of the station a young lieutenant of 
the 87th was ordering a non-commissioned of- 
ficer and two men to set fire to the hotel, under 
the pretext that it was from there that von 
Kriestein might have been fired at. These 
three men first entered the hotel cellars in the 
hope of finding some wine. They found it, to 
be sure, but they immediately began to quarrel 
because the non-commissioned officer wanted 
to keep all the champagne for himself. So a 
man of the 88th was chosen to set fire to the 
hotel, which he did, floor by floor. Many 
houses were destroyed in this way. 

About six o'clock Merbach and I were sent 
to look for the paymaster, in order that rations 
might be distributed. We followed a little 
path between two hills to the right of the sta- 
tion. Soon we met a group of German sol- 
diers, a seriously wounded French lieutenant 
in their midst. When he saw us, this officer 
said in German: ''Gentlemen, I beg of you 
to deliver me from these wild beasts." The 



48 The Diary of a German Soldier 

poor man had a bullet iir his abdomen and 
seemed to be suffering intensely. Merbach 
suddenly became very much excited and an- 
swered brutally: "Take care of what you 
say and don't talk that way about brave 
soldiers who are fighting to deliver the world 
from the filthy French. As sure as I am 
standing here, I will not leave you until you 
have died before my eyes." "Lieutenant Mer- 
bach," said Paymaster Herbert who had just 
joined us, "remember that he is an officer like 
yourself and that he is wounded." But Mer- 
bach did not wish to listen to anything and sent 
us away. He remained alone with the dying 
man. 

I told Major Schmidt of this affair and he 
ordered Merbach to take command of the 8th 
Company, whose captain, Zieckenrath, had 
been wounded. Two days afterwards, in the 
battle of Bertrix, Merbach was killed by a 
French soldier who dealt him a musket blow on 
the head. He was one of my best friends. 

In the battle of Lenglier the 2nd Battalion 
lost five officers and sixty men. 



JLenglier 49 

Night fell and we lay down in the midst of 
the dead and wounded, whose cries we heard 
all around us. Our camp was in a place about 
two kilometres east of Lenglier, which contin- 
ued to burn all through the night. 

It was impossible for most of us to rest be- 
cause we were all unnerved. Many soldiers 
thanked God for having protected them. 
Others boasted of having killed many Belgians 
and French. Whenever, utterly tired out, we 
began to doze a little, nightmares or shells 
would rudely awaken us. 

At dawn we went on. For eight hours we 
marched around Neufchateau, where a battle 
seemed to have taken place, and then we were 
ordered to bivouac at Bercheux. 

We had the 87th French Infantry aided by 
a company of Belgian cyclists opposite us. 



VI 
BERTRIX 

Gn August 22nd the reveille sounded at 
five o'clock in the morning. We marched 
off at seven, following the road to the left of 
Lenglier. After passing through Tournay- 
en- Ardennes, we entered the forest of Huquant 
where we snatched a moment's rest. Almost 
all the inhabitants of the village had fled pre- 
cipitately, leaving their houses intact in the 
hands of the Germans, w^ho were pillaging, 
breaking, and plundering everything. The 
soldiers, for their own amusement, were throw- 
ing furniture and dishes out of the windows. 
Schmidt, it is true, from time to time said that 
he would kill any one who went into the houses ; 
but the soldiers did as they pleased and did not 
obey Schmidt or any one else. 

At eleven o'clock near the Luchy forest, on 

60 



Bertrioo 51 

the way from Bertrix to Recogne, we received 
for the last time two days' rations. About 
two o'clock an order from the Army Corps was 
received. We were to attack immediately be- 
cause the enemy, in great numbers, was get- 
ting ready to block our path, and perhaps to 
attempt to drive us back. Two of our com- 
panies advanced on the left side of the road 
and two on the right. We were assisted on 
the right by the 1st Battalion, and on the left 
by the 80th Fusiliers. 

The 7th Company was ordered to form in 
skirmish line, occupying the outskirts of the 
forest, and to open the attack. The first one 
to be killed was First Lieutenant Bertram. 
He fell, struck by the bullet of a German sol- 
dier named Schleisinger, whom the Lieutenant 
had punished before the war by three days' im- 
prisonment, and who wished to avenge himself, 
and had moreover so expressed himself to his 
comrades. His bullet made a little hole in the 
nape of Bertram's neck. This Schleisinger 
not only went unpunished, but a little while 
later received the Iron Cross for bravery. He 



52 The Diary of a German Soldier 

died in the hospital at Nesle of wounds received 
in battle. 

The battle of Bertrix was one of the most 
important in which our battalion took part. 
The French occupied a favom^able position 
and tried their utmost to prevent our advance. 
In order to avoid being driven back we had to 
sacrifice all our reserves. The fighting was 
desperate and both sides displayed equal val- 
our. The French artillery and machine 
gunners aimed very well and caused us great 
losses. A great many soldiers fell, dead or 
wounded, and it was impossible to bring aid to 
any one because each one of us had enough to 
do to shelter himself from bullets and shells. 
At one time we thought that everything was 
lost and that we would have to retreat, when, 
fortunately, the 3rd Artillery Regiment of the 
Mayence fortress broke through the forest and 
arrived on the field. Hardly had the horses 
come out from the sheltering trees when they 
fell, overwhelmed by the French fire. Officers 
and soldiers set to work dragging the guns and 
pushing the wheels in order to be able to open 



Bertrix 53 

fire as soon as possible. Many were killed. 

At last the 3rd Artillery was ready to fire 
and our cause took a turn for the better. Some 
soldiers of the 5th and 8th companies suc- 
ceeded in gaining possession of guns belonging 
to the 18th French Artillery. The French- 
men defended their guns, revolver in hand, and 
died bravely for their country. Then the 
Prussians cheered. The French, seeing a 
part of their artillery lost and one of their 
aviators fall, began to retreat slowly and to 
offer less resistance. 

The battle was over for that day and the last 
rays of the sun gloomily lit up the field, cov- 
ered with the wounded and dying. 

The next morning, August 23rd, the conflict 
began again, but less violently than on the 
previous day. Still keeping in skirmish line, 
we advanced, leaving Bertrix on our left. 
The soldiers were hungry and many of them 
opened the knapsacks of dead French and 
Germans in order to find something to eat. 
Bertrix was burning and we advanced through 
a field of unmowed grain. We spent the night 



54 The Diary of a German Soldier 

between Fontenoille and Chassepierre on the 
French border. 

The next day, at eight o'clock, we engaged 
in our first battle on French soil, in the neigh- 
bourhood of Matton, and in Matton itself. 



VII 
MATTON 

On the morning of August 24th our bat- 
talion again happened to march at the head of 
the line. This did not please Major Schmidt 
or the soldiers at all because we had already 
lost more men than all the other battalions. 
But Schmidt was the youngest commander and 
he had to obey. 

The French who were beating a slow retreat 
had assumed the defensive in the woods near 
Matton. We attacked them and a short while 
afterwards occupied their positions. Since we 
had no orders we stayed right there in the 
trenches until the 80th came to relieve us. The 
field kitchens, which were two kilometres be- 
hind us, were waiting to give us a hot meal. 
The men were satisfied and had already for- 
gotten the hardships of the previous days. 
But their happiness was of short duration. In- 

55 



56 The Diary of a German Soldier 

deed the French had just made a counter at- 
tack and had pushed aside the 80th, who lost 
the positions which we had gained. As soon 
as he was told of this, the Commander of the 
Army Corps, Baron von Schenk, ordered 
Schmidt to attack immediately. Schmidt re- 
plied : 

^f "Your Excellency, my battalion has lost 
more men than all the others put together. 
My men have fought like lions. They have 
had almost nothing to eat for three days and 
they can stand it no longer." 

''What's that? Are you not ashamed of 
yourself?" said Schenk. "You will attack im- 
mediately and the knapsacks will remain here." 

Schmidt, with tears in his eyes, grasped the 
battalion standard and placed himself at the 
head of his men. He was seeking death. Be- 
cause of this incident, Schmidt became popular 
with all the soldiers. On the other hand, he 
was unfavourably regarded by his superiors 
and ended by handing in his resignation in 
April, 1915. 

Our artillery, which had done pretty good 



Matton 57 

work that day, helped us take Matton, which 
was already completely demolished, only a few 
houses remaining intact. When the 80th 
came to relieve us the soldiers exchanged mus- 
ket blows and kicks. Our men called them 
cowards and full dress soldiers. Our officers 
said nothing but spat on the ground to express 
their disgust before their comrades of the 80th. 

We had to go about twelve kilometres to get 
our knapsacks and at about 8 p. m. we took 
up our quarters in more or less ruined houses. 

The soldiers broke everything that was still 
whole. They made fires of furniture and 
planks torn from the floors. They found a 
good deal of linen, especially women's under- 
wear. Many men threw aside their shirts and 
put on women's chemises, which they said were 
much more comfortable in the heat. No one 
could forbid them anything, for most of them 
were drunk and would not obey. They quar- 
relled in front of the cellar entrances and had 
only one fear : that they might leave some wine 
for others. Often in their haste they forgot 
to turn off the taps so that the cellars were 



58 The Diary of a German Soldier 

flooded with wine. Besides, many officers, es- 
pecially reserve officers, were the first to set a 
bad example. 

I lived with Major Schmidt and his entire 
staff in the house of a retired French captain, 
that was still intact. He told Schmidt that he 
could not understand how, in an army like 
ours, which had such a reputation for disci- 
pline, the soldiers could be permitted to plun- 
der and steal as they had just done at Matton. 
Schmidt asked me to answer him by saying 
that unfortunately he could not punish the sol- 
diers because too many officers themselves had 
given such a bad example. 

"How does it happen?" the old French cap- 
tain went on, "that you mobilized so quickly? 
In France there was so little thought of war 
that we did not even have the time necessary 
to prepare for our defence." 

Lieutenant Wunderlich made him under- 
stand that Germany had been preparing for a 
new war for forty-four years, while in France 
the people had only begun to think of such a 
thing about a year or two ago. 



Matton 59 

On the next morning, August 25th, at half- 
past nine Paymaster Herbert arrived with 
supply wagons in order to distribute provisions 
among the kitchens. Then we saw who the 
true thieves, the greatest plunderers, were. 
What had they not stolen? Full trunks, 
clothing, materials, clocks, phonographs and 
even umbrellas, canes and other things of no 
earthly use to a soldier. Beside the regula- 
tion wagons there were a lot of others loaded 
with loot. Some were entirely filled with 
wine. When he saw this Schmidt asked since 
when had he become a robber captain. The 
paymaster answered, without moving a muscle, 
that there had been no way of preventing the 
soldiers from entering abandoned houses. 

"Fine excuses," answered Schmidt. "I be- 
lieve you are war profiteers. While the sol- 
diers at the front are sacrificing their skins, you 
gentlemen to the rear steal at leisure." 

This band of thieves brought with them a 
quantity of provisions stolen from the houses 
and stores, and all sorts of poultry, geese ac- 
tually hanging out of the wagons. 



60 The Diary of a German Soldier 

At 2 p. M. the regiment left Matton to march 
on Carignan. Along the road we could see 
ambulances and shattered wagons and the bod- 
ies of soldiers and horses which, because of the 
heat, were beginning to pollute the air. We 
also saw dead cows and pigs which the soldiers 
had left to rot after they had cut from them 
such meat as they wanted at the moment. It 
was the work of marauders who wage war for 
their own personal gain and only appear in 
their units to get their pay. 

At Carignan, for lack of space, we had to 
camp out. On the twenty-sixth, we acted as 
reserves for the troops fighting around Mou- 
zon. During the night it rained so hard that 
we had to go into the houses for shelter. Nat- 
urally the soldiers had to stay indoors and that 
caused some grumbling. I overheard Klein, 
a first class private, express himself as follows : 

"Whenever there is anything good to be 
had, it's for the officers. As for us, they leave 
us wherever we are and don't even look at us. 
But let the battle come, then they are scared; 
they compliment us and flatter us because they 



Matton 61 

are afraid. Then they are just like little chil- 
dren, but when the danger is over, they resume 
their authoritative tone and treat us like dogs." 

On August 27th, we crossed the Meuse, 
near Carignan, without any difficulty. 

We encamped at Villemontry which had not 
suffered much. But the inhabitants com- 
plained of the raids and pillages of the sol- 
diers who, through their threats, got money 
and other valuables. 

In the evening every soldier received a bot- 
tle of wine. The men, already fed by the 
kitchens, nevertheless prepared anothei meal 
for themselves, composed of chickens and other 
provisions, stolen from the village. Indeed 
nothing was left of the chickens and geese ex- 
cept the feathers which flew around in the 
streets. 

On August 28th, reveille sounded at five 
o'clock, the last reveille, alas, for the many of 
us who were to fall on that day. 



VIII 
AUTRECOURT 

We formed part of the left wing of the 21st 
Division and participated in the battle waged 
in and around Sedan. We were stationed be- 
tween Haraucourt and Autrecourt. The 25th 
Division was on our left. The French artil- 
lery aimed very well, but vnih small results, 
because most of their projectiles did not ex- 
plode. The shrapnel shells were the most dan- 
gerous, because when they burst it was at a 
certain height and a shower of bullets rained 
down upon us. They caused us great losses. 
We were lying on the crest of a small hill 
to the east of Autrecourt and we could not 
possibly advance because of the murderous fire 
of the French, who shot at all those who were 
foolish enough to raise their heads. ' 

Major Schmidt, Reserve-Lieutenant Beck, 

62 



Autrecourt 63 

Loffelhardt and I marched with the battalion, 
while Lieutenant Wunderlich, a drum-major 
and a non-commissioned officer stayed about 
fifty paces behind us with the telephone in 
order to keep up communication with the rest 
of the regiment. A shell, which exploded 
right where they stood, struck a telephone 
operator, so that he was literally cut to pieces, 
and wounded Lieutenant Wunderlich in the 
back and in the arm. 

After we had surged forward and backward 
several times we ended by succeeding in get- 
ting into the village which was completely 
destroyed. As at Lenglier I saw half -burned 
corpses lying among the ruins. The wounded 
groaned and the frightened animals bellowed 
loudly in the stables. 

It was about two o'clock when we entered 
Autrecourt. In order to try to see Wunder- 
lich, I, together with the major, sought the 
field hospital which had been installed in the 
church. 

A frightful spectacle met our eyes and our 
nerves were subjected to a severe test. At 



64 The Diary of a German Soldier 

first, it was impossible to find Wunderlich, so 
filled was the church with the wounded. We 
would have had to step over their bodies. 
Among others I remember the son of a mer- 
chant from Hanau-on-the-Main, who had lost 
both eyes. He screamed fit to break one's 
heart and kept calling for his mother. In his 
agony he tore off the dressing, and we could 
see how horrible his wound was. Others had 
one or two limbs shot away, or had their 
stomachs torn open by shells. Some bore 
their suffering resignedly; others on the con- 
trary uttered loud shrieks. 

In a garden, to the right of the church, were 
the French wounded. I must say that most of 
them did not scream, either because they were 
afraid to or because of national pride and for 
the sake of setting the Germans a good exam- 
ple of courage. 

We asked the nurses why they did not carry 
these wounded Frenchmen into the houses in- 
stead of letting them lie out in the open. *'We 
have no room," they answered. "Besides it is 
not cold during the night and they are well 



Autrecourt 65 

covered." Let it be said in passing that the 
nurses are the greatest thieves on earth. 

We camped north of Autrecourt. The 
companies assembled to report their losses in 
dead, wounded and prisoners. Only then I 
realized how hot the fighting had been. All 
the companies had lost more than half of their 
fighting force in dead or wounded. 

Many of the soldiers walked over the battle- 
field to find their friends, but most of them 
were not ashamed to explore the pockets of the 
dead. To any questions they answered that 
they were looking for identification tags. To 
put these ghouls to flight it was necessary for 
Schmidt to issue a formal order, threatening 
to shoot immediately any man who should 
touch a corpse. 

The Meuse flowed calmly at our feet, indif- 
ferent to all this wretchedness of which, never- 
theless, it was the primary cause. 

In order that the convoys might cross the 
river, the 21st Pioneers had built a bridge at 
Villers, just ahead of Mouzon. Because one 
could not see very well there and as the cross- 



66 The Diary of a German Soldier 

ing was making slow progress the Pioneers 
set fire to the houses nearest to the river. But 
the fires spread over the village and soon it 
was all aflame, so that one could see as though 
in full daylight. The general commanding 
the army-corps congratulated the 21st Pio- 
neers. 



IX 
RAUCOURT 

On August 29th, 1914, after having received 
a fresh supply of rations, we set out for Rau- 
court. During the march our new aide-de- 
camp. Lieutenant Kedor, especially distin- 
guished himself. He was a booby who mal- 
treated the soldiers who were already suffering 
greatly from the heat and from thirst. As 
they were not marching quickly enough, he 
threatened them with his crop, insulted them 
and called them dogs, pigs, band of peasants, 
herd of cows, etc. Nevertheless, during the 
battle, no one ever saw this hero, who preferred 
to stay near the kitchens where shells and bul- 
lets did not fall. This, however, did not pre- 
vent him from being one of the first in the regi- 
ment to receive the Iron Cross. 

About 3 P. M. we arrived at Raucourt. 
Here something happened which ought not to 

67 



68 The Diary of a German Soldier 

have occurred, but, honestly speaking, who in 
the German army still had any respect for the 
Red Cross, non-combatants, women, etc.? 
Not many. 

The 87th Infantry which was in the lead 
had not neglected to take all precautions and 
had sent patrols in various directions. Some 
of these patrols preferred to remain quietly 
at an inn at Raucourt, rather than fulfil their 
mission. They stripped the entire house and 
after taking whatever pleased them, went into 
the cellar. There they seized a lot of wine, 
especially champagne, as was afterwards 
proved by the number of empty bottles lying 
about on the ground. It was not long before 
they were completely drunk. Then, whether 
it was the result of a quarrel, or whether it was 
by accident, one of the soldiers was killed by 
the sideboard in the dining room. He had 
been hit by the butt-end of a rifle which had 
opened his skull like a melon. His brain oozed 
out. His eyes, as big as fists, hung from 
their sockets. He was completely disfigured. 
So that no one could identify him the mur- 



Raucourt C9 

derers had hidden his papers and taken his 
military certificate out of his knapsack, which 
was still lying in front of him, with the contents 
all thrown about. What indicated that the 
murderers were not civilians was the fact that 
he still held his own gun and that the mur- 
derer's gun, the butt all covered with blood, was 
still there. 

Lieutenant Kedor, the non-commissioned 
ofiicers Dorr of the regimental staff, Hallen- 
bach, Loffelhardt and I were the first to enter 
the house, for a crowd of civilians and soldiers 
had assembled outside the door without daring 
to go in. We immediately understood what 
had happened, and saw that only a German sol- 
dier could have committed the murder. Ke- 
dor said: "Who will denounce the criminals 
so that they will be punished for their crime? 
They will never be found. Nevertheless we 
cannot allow the honour of the German army 
to be sullied in this way.'' With these words 
he went out of the house and accused the in- 
habitants of Raucourt of having murdered a 
Prussian soldier. 



70 The Diary of a German Soldier 

Immediately under Colonel Puder's orders, 
First Lieutenant Schaffitzel, the adjutant of 
the regiment, arrested all the inhabitants of the 
houses near the inn, about twenty in number. 
These miserable people swore that the soldiers 
were fighting among themselves and that 
they were innocent. Whereupon Puder 
shouted : "Kill this whole crowd immediately 
even though the innocent will suffer with the 
guilty, and set fire to the hotel and the neigh- 
bouring houses." Perhaps he thought that 
one of these wretches might denounce some one 
eke, but in this he was mistaken. However, 
before he could countermand the order the sol- 
diers, like wild beasts, threw themselves on the 
fifteen or twenty men and women, condemned 
without a trial hj Colonel Puder, and killed 
them wildly with bayonet thrusts. During 
this time others hastily set fire to the houses and 
to the hotel, which were in flames within a few 
moments. 

Then the soldiers scattered over the whole 
village, maltreating and terrorizing all the in- 



Raucourt 71 

habitants. They were allowed full liberty to 
do as they pleased. 

The battalion camped outside of the village 
in a field, where the bodies of French colonial 
soldiers were still lying about. We suffered 
much for want of tobacco. Major Schmidt 
and we ourselves smoked tea. The soldiers 
smoked dry leaves. Many stripped the dead 
in order to find some tobacco, which they re- 
sold for gold. Soldiers gave watches, rings 
and French or Belgian gold pieces in exchange 
for a few cigarettes. Where did all this 
money and these valuables come from since the 
German soldier is paid only five and three- 
tenths marks every ten days? 

On the next day, a Sunday and a day of rest, 
a religious service was held at which the chap- 
lain of the 21st Division preached, taking as 
his text: "Love thy neighbour as thyself." 
At half -past eleven a mass for the Catholic 
soldiers was held in the church of Raucourt. 

Because we of the general staff were in want 
of wine, Major Schmidt told me to try and 



72 The Diary of a German Soldier 

sneak out with Loffelhardt and find some. 
So J started a little investigation among the 
inhabitants of the village who advised me to 
apply at a villa, situated at the northern limit 
of Raucourt. This villa was occupied by an 
old lady who lived there alone with her son 
and who was likely to have a lot of wine in her 
cellar. 

When Non- Commissioned Officer Kumpfe, 
Loffelhardt and I presented ourselves at the 
villa we were thrown out by a young lieutenant 
who had already taken up his quarters there. 

So we returned to Major Schmidt to tell 
him of the failure of our mission. Kedor, who 
was never afraid in such a case, said that we 
must return there with him. When we arrived 
the young lieutenant had gone away and we 
were able to see the lady at once. We ex- 
plained the purpose of our visit, but she told 
us: 

"Gentlemen, everything in this house has al- 
ready been taken by the general who lives 
here." 

"And where is this gentleman?" I asked. 



Raucourt 78 

"He has gone out," she said. 

"Very well. When he returns you will show 
him our certificate of requisition." 

Whereupon we went down into the cellar 
and immediately began to pack up some bottles 
of champagne and other wines. 

As we were making ready to leave, with 
about thirty bottles, the young officer received 
us at the door of the cellar with these words: 

"I'll teach you to drink my champagne I 
You drink water, you rascals!" 

But Kedor, who was not afraid, shouted in 
his face: 

"What are you saying? Who are you? 
What are you doing in this house?" 

"I am the general's adjutant and I order 
you to leave this wine alone and to quit this 
place as quickly as possible." 

"Shut up; keep your mouth closed! I am 
older than you. I believe you are only an im- 
postor. You'll hear from me," answered the 
bold Kedor. 

Finally we arrived at Schmidt's quarters 
with our stolen wine, but we could not drink 



74 The Diary of a German Soldier 

much of it since our departure was fixed for 
half -past four. We had hardly time to have a 
bite before setting out. 

Barely six kilometres from Raucourt we had 
to halt in order to let other troops go by, be- 
cause we were the reserves. This delay gave 
Schmidt an opportunity to send us back to get 
some more wine because we would probably be 
going through places which had already been 
stripped of everything by the troops preceding 
us. So I set out with Lieutenant Abraham of 
the 8th Company and Loffelhardt. All of us 
rode bicycles. We were delighted to be able 
to annoy the young lieutenant again. In the 
village Lieutenant Abraham stopped a mo- 
ment to speak to some soldier acquaintances, so 
Loffelhardt and I went on ahead and pre- 
sented ourselves . alone at the door of the old 
lady's villa. 

We knocked several times but no one an- 
swered. Then we jumped over the garden 
wall and removed the iron bar in order to open 
the door and put our bicycles inside. We were 
very much surprised to hear threatening words 



Raucourt 75 

in German. The door of the house was also 
closed so we climbed in at a window, and were 
soon in the room from which the noise came. 
There we saw a strange sight. In the room 
were Non- Commissioned Officer Kumpfe, who 
was one of our party the first time we had 
come for the wine, Janecke, a first class pri- 
vate, and the old lady. The latter was com- 
pletely undressed and appeared about to faint. 
When she saw us she started to cry, probably 
thinking that we also had come to hurt her. 
I told her to dress herself and to tell us what 
had happened. 

"About half an hour ago," she said, "these 
two gentlemen broke into my room through the 
window and asked for money. I told them I 
had none because my son had gone away 
and taken it with him. Not understanding 
French, they thought I was refusing to give it 
to them. I took them into the dining-room to 
give them something to eat, but they pointed 
their revolvers at me and dragged me into this 
room. I tried to make them understand that 
they would fincj nothing which would be of the 



76 The Diary of a German Soldier 

slightest value to them. Then the taller one" 
(this was Kumpfe) "sat down on my bed and 
made me understand by signs that I was to get 
imdressed. In like manner, I tried to convey 
to him that I am an old woman, sixty-three 
years old, and begged him to remember his 
mother and to spare me such dishonour. Then 
this gentleman took a candle and set fire to my 
bed. I beg you to look at the sheets and 
blankets. Half mad with fear I tore off my 
clothes, ready to submit to the inevitable, when 
luckily you gentlemen came." 

Then I explained to the lady why we had 
come back to see her, that she must not be 
afraid of us and that we would pay her in 
requisition certificates, which had the same 
value as current money. Kumpfe, now thor- 
oughly scared, begged me to say nothing of 
what we had seen. Both he and Janecke asked 
the old lady's pardon. She also asked us not 
to say anything ; because she did not want these 
men to be punished, and because she was em- 
barrassed by the whole business. Loffelhardt 
and I promised her to keep it secret. 



RaucouH 77 

She asked us all to have something to eat, 
and you may be sure we did not refuse. Lieu- 
tenant Abraham, who had just arrived, also 
accepted her invitation and seemed very much 
pleased with the good woman. We did not 
tell him all that she had endured. After sup- 
per she herself took us to the cellar to get some 
wine. Since we could not carry it all with us, 
we told her to bury the rest, because I had 
marked on the requisition bill that we had 
taken everything; but I doubt if she did that. 
Later on, when Kumpfe wanted to order 
Janecke to do something, the latter said in a 
clear voice: "Raucourt." Kumpfe immedi- 
ately turned pale and gave his orders to an- 
other soldier. 

In the evening we rejoined the battalion, 
laden like mules, to Schmidt's great satisfac- 
tion. 

The villages through which we passed were 
for the most part completely ruined, and in 
many of them even the churches were no longer 
standing. 

Now the battle of the Marne awaited us, the 



78 The Diary of a German Soldier 

Marne where the French showed the stuff they 
were made of and where General Joffre closed 
the door on our hopes and illusions. 

Here I wish to tell of some of the foolish 
ideas of our soldiers in order to show to what 
extent these illusions were spread about. We 
were to enter Paris immediately; that went 
without saying and no one doubted it for a mo- 
ment. But all the soldiers were convinced that 
we would be in England very soon as well. 

"How are we going to get to England?" 
asked one. 

"Don't worry," replied another. "Wilhelm 
has already prepared everything. One fine 
day Dover will be bombarded from Calais and 
we will quietly set off for London where we 
can eat our fill of pudding." ' 



X 

THE BATTLE OF THE MARNE 

We had the good fortune to remain in the 
rear-guard for five days until September 5th, 
1914, when we were led under the deadly 
French artillery fire, to the north of Heiltz-le- 
Merupt, in order to take part in the great bat- 
tle of the Marne. The French artillery aimed 
so well that on the march toward our position, 
we lost almost half of our fighting force, in 
dead or wounded. 

We finally arrived at Heiltz-le-Merupt 
where we had to stop because the village was 
under fire. Always on the jump on account 
of the violent fire of the enemy artillery, we 
reached our positions between Sermaize-les- 
Bains and Pagny-sur-Saul, on the railroad, 
where we were sheltered. At this moment our 
communications with the rear were interrupted 
because of the close and violent fire of the 

79 



80 The Diary of a German Soldier 

French artillery which was becoming more and 
more deadly. We were in relative shelter, but 
only if we lay in the water. A torrential rain 
fell unceasingly and we had eaten nothing since 
4 A. M. We had to await nightfall before we 
could leave our disagreeable position where, if 
we were not shot to death, we would probably 
be drowned like rats. 

At 10 p. M. two field kitchens approached. 
Without bothering to see to what regiment 
they might belong the men threw themselves 
upon them and stripped them of everything in 
the twinkling of an eye. 

Soon Loifelhardt and I were appointed to 
take the reinforcements which had just arrived 
from Mayence out to the battalion and to scat- 
ter them among the various companies. Some 
old Hanau acquaintanfces of ours were with 
them. The important thing was that they had 
tobacco and cigarettes, which we had been de- 
prived of for a long time. 

We showed the newcomers to their com- 
panies. Many had only joined the colours six 
weeks before. They were beside themselves 



The Battle of the Marne 81 

at the idea of taking part in a great battle and 
screamed so that we were obhged to shut them 
up, for the French were hardly thirty or forty 
metres away from us. I had hardly spoken 
when the fusillade began again, very violently, 
and then it was hard to restrain these valiant 
warriors who began to run in all directions, 
especially to the rear. Soon Loffelhardt and 
I had to lie down flat in a pool of water. 

The company orderlies were starting off 
with new recruits when the order arrived for an 
immediate attack on the French who were op- 
posite us. That was a real butchery. For 
the first time, I took part in a hand-to-hand 
combat. Every conceivable weapon was used : 
the bayonet, the rifle butt and even the trench 
knife. The two artilleries thundered on and 
caused terrible losses on both sides. Neither 
French nor Germans gave any quarter and no 
one wished to surrender. Our attack failed, 
resulting only in enormous losses. 

In the morning we saw Kedor approaching 
with the four company adjutants whom he 
had gone to look for, back where the field 



82 The Diary of a German Soldier 

kitchens were. He wished to enroll the new 
arrivals, but this was impossible because we had 
no lists and anyway most of them had been 
initiated by being killed, wounded or made 
prisoners. For a long while, in Germany, the 
many requests for information made by sol- 
diers' relatives all received this simple answer : 
"Missing since the battle of the Marne." 
Many of these young soldiers did not even have 
identification tags. 

On September 6th, the firing subsided some- 
what, but it continued to rain in torrents. I 
was squatting at the bottom of a hole with 
Loffelhardt quite close to the major. AH of 
a sudden a French shell fell right into our 
trench and tore six men to pieces. 

About 5 p. M. Loflfelhardt and I went to the 
rear carrying orders from the major to the 
paymaster. He was stationed with the bag- 
gage near Sagny-sur-l' Angle together with 
all the provisions of the 21st in charge of Ritt- 
meister, a captain of the Hussars. Just as we 
came up the latter was questioning the mayor 
of Sagny-sur-l' Angle who had been brought 



The Battle of the Marne 83 

before him and accused of communicating with 
the French, and of warning them of all our 
movements by means of an underground tele- 
phone. This suspicion was all the more well 
founded because a German battery, which 
had only just taken up its position, was im- 
mediately wiped out by the French fire. A 
non-commissioned officer of the 6th Uhlans 
arrived in the townhall courtyard and ordered 
the soldiers to arrest all civiliai^s. Three 
women, among them the daughter of the 
mayor, a young girl of eighteen, were found in 
a cellar which had been their hiding place, and 
were treated just like the men, that is to say 
with the utmost brutality. 

We spent the night with the paymaster and 
were able to see what an easy and agreeable life 
these gentlemen of the Quartermaster's De- 
partment were leading. While we were doing 
without everything in the trenches a frightful 
waste was going on here. They did not deny 
themselves anything. Wagons filled with 
plundered goods were standing in line. Be- 
cause it was raining, comfortable tents had 



84 The Diary of a German Soldier 

been put up. The paymaster invited us to 
have dinner with him and treated us just as 
though we were in a first-class hotel. Many- 
excellent courses and all kinds of wine were 
served. Since Loifelhardt and I had had vir- 
tually nothing to eat for forty-eight hours, our 
appetites were enormous. Both of us were 
possessed by the one idea of profiting by this 
occasion, by eating enough for several days. 
Everything that we ate at that dinner had been 
stolen. A few steps from us some soldiers 
who were guarding the civilians of Sagny did 
not hesitate to show their utter lack of respect 
for the women in a shocking manner. These 
poor creatures could do nothing and they be- 
gan to cry, but that did not prevent those 
brutes from keeping right on. The officers 
ought to have put an end to such conduct. 
Are not two officers always detailed to stay 
with the baggage? Where were they? Prob- 
ably about to celebrate with stolen wine. 
They were waging war in their own way. 

After we were quite refreshed we responded 
to the call of duty and rejoined our battalion 



The Battle of the Marne 85 

at about 4 a. m. We had to creep over bodies 
of dead men and horses and the ruins of 
wagons, guns and automobiles which littered 
the battlefield. It was impossible to walk up- 
right without exposing oneself to the enemy 
fire. So we had to crawl. I shuddered as I 
touched the dead and reflected that perhaps a 
moment later I too would be one of these 
innumerable and unknown corpses. About 
half -past six we reached the crest of a hill. 
We offered a fine target to the enemy and their 
bullets began to whiz over us. So we hid be- 
hind a dead horse. Soon we saw some troops 
in front of us retreating in our direction. 
How great was our surprise to find that we 
were in the midst of the first, instead of the 
second, battalion. In answer to our ques- 
tions we were told that the second battalion 
was now further to the left. We went there 
and I asked Major Schmidt why we had 
abandoned the railroad line. He said: "You 
have heard that the Germans with Von Kluck 
were twenty kilometres from Paris, but, you 
see, the matter fell through and we have to 



86 The Diary of a German Soldier 

beat a retreat. If this goes on, we shall soon 
have no more men left, for our losses are 
terrific." We remained there without orders, 
waiting to be taken prisoners. 

"Chariot," Schmidt went on, "if fate wishes 
us to fall into the hands of the French while 
we are still alive, let us always stay together. 
Why didn't I learn more French at school? 
Well, that's understood, we'll keep together." 

We remained there all day long; the French 
artillery fired to our rear and prevented us 
from retreating. They were also firing at 
us and killing many of our men, so that our 
position became intolerable. The stretcher 
bearers did not know where to turn next for 
the wounded were all crying out at the same 
time, calling them from every direction. Some 
men began to stick their handkerchiefs on 
their guns to show that they wished to sur- 
render, but the French did not pay the slight- 
est attention to us, only answering by bullets 
which very often hit their mark. Every one 
was demoralized. In order to calm the men, 
higher officers told them that we were retreat- 



The Battle of the Marne 87 

ing as a precautionary measure, but no one be- 
lieved that. The soldiers had no compunction 
about shouting right at the officers: "Yes, 
yes, you were too hasty with your Paris story. 
Now the French have given us a beating which 
we shall never forget." 

Finally, on September 8th, about 7 p. m.^ we 
escaped out of the death-clutch of the French. 
We were ordered to begin the retreat, which 
was wretchedly accomplished because of con- 
tradictory orders and counter orders. First 
they would send us in one direction and then in 
another. If we had just halted in a spot 
where we could get a little rest, another order 
would immediately come telling us to leave it. 
This uncertainty among their chiefs exasper- 
ated the soldiers, who sometimes even began to 
insult the officers. Many men, dead beat, re- 
fused to go on, but stayed where they were, 
surrendering to their fate. 

On September 9th, about 4 a. m. our regi- 
ment was ordered to act as rear-guard of the 
division and to send out patrols composed of 
trustworthy men. Until further orders, the 



88 The Diary of a German Soldier 

bulk of the rear-guard was to occupy the south- 
ern part of the Sommeilles forest. 

It had stopped raining and the sun was shin- 
ing brightly. Our little staff made themselves 
as comfortable as possible on the edge of a 
sand pit. They brought us coffee from the 
kitchens. We took it with pleasure and were 
discussing recent deaths when a French shell, 
bursting quite near by recalled to us the fact 
that the war was not yet over. Lieutenant 
Kedor, who was dangling his legs over the edge 
of the pit, all of a sudden rolled down, up- 
setting our coffee and shouting: "Help! 
Quick! I'm wounded!" Dr. Wolkewiz and 
two nurses came running but he got up alone 
and feeling himself all over said : "I thought 
that a shell had torn me to pieces. But, thank 
God, I see that there is nothing the matter with 
me and that I am safe and sound." We all 
laughed at the courage of this hero, who went 
on : "Major, I had a narrow escape ; that shell 
whizzed by my ears, so that I thought surely 
the end had come. It's good that those sim- 
pletons aimed badly." 



The Battle of the Marne 89 

The major answered him: "Kedor, I 
haven't laughed so much since we mobilized. 
And just look! the whole battalion is doubling 
up with laughter. It remains to be seen 
whether it's on account of your heroism or your 
acrobatic stunts." 

Kedor, who was ill-natured, got angry at 
these remarks and began to pick a quarrel with 
the soldiers. But he had hardly opened his 
mouth when they called out, shaking with 
laughter: "Help! Quick! I'm wounded!" 

In order to end this scene, Schmidt sent Ke- 
dor to the kitchens to get us some more coffee. 

Soon we continued our retreat. Von 
Kluck's artillery galloped madly by, with in- 
fantry men who could no longer keep up and 
who did not wish to fall into the hands of the 
French, hanging onto the gun carriages. 

In the villages through which we passed 
there was no longer any question of maltreat- 
ing the inhabitants. Some of them asked us 
if we were looking for the road to Paris. 
Schmidt, for whom I translated these sarcastic 



90 The Diary of a German Soldier 

questions, did not get angry and only shrugged 
his shoulders. 

At six o'clock we arrived at Hans where we 
were to encamp with all of the 88th, the 87th, 
the 6th Uhlans and the 63rd Artillery. The 
streets were so crowded with guns and wagons 
that it was impossible to get through. Officers 
swore and yelled and soldiers did what they 
chose. Many of the non-commissioned officers 
were soundly thrashed by privates. While I 
was going for orders for the brigade I saw 
Lieutenant Anspach of the 3rd Battalion 
swearing at an Uhlan who had touched him 
with his lance in passing. The Uhlan an- 
swered him in a rage: *'Shut up, you great 
big thief; now you're getting back your cour- 
age because we're far away from the French. 
Be off with you, you poor coward, otherwise 
you'll get something more." Anspach paled 
and went off. I myself had removed the col- 
lar of my cape in order to pass unrecognized, 
for I realized that the troops were not respect- 
ing their superiors just then. 

The night passed quietly for the men, but 



The Battle of the Marne 91 

we were kept busy with orders and counter 
orders. 

We left Hans on September 11th about 
3 A. M., in skirmish line, and retreated east- 
ward, crossing the trenches between Hans and 
Somme-Tourbe. 

About six o'clock we were relieved by regi- 
ments who had not yet been tried out, and we 
in our turn relieved the Guard which had been 
beaten at Rheims. 

Such was the part which our battalion 
played in the battle of the Marne. 



XI 

RHEIMS 

We were marching northward in the direc- 
tion of Vouziers when we were suddenly or- 
dered to change our course. Upon consulting 
maps, we found that we were being sent to 
Rheims. Our march on that city was a veri- 
table forced march, for we made about fifty 
kilometres in one day. Colonel Puder shouted 
to us : "Well, we'll have to pull other people's 
chestnuts out of the fire again. It seems that 
the Guard has been licked and no doubt we're 
being sent to replace it." 

It was at Bourgogne that we met the first 
soldiers of the Guard. Our men received them 
with sorry jokes. "Well," they said, "here 
you are, you brawlers from Berlin. Did the 
French give you a good licking? You just 
look at us to see what real soldiers are. You're 
nothing but full-dress soldiers. You know 

92 



Rheims 93 

how to shoot off your mouths; but when the 
battle comes, you throw away your guns and 
beat it " The officers said nothing and laughed 
in their sleeves. Those remarks assured them 
that we would do our duty and would efface the 
failure of the Guards who had lost the fort of 
Brimont. We were being sent to recapture it. 

At first no one cared to attack because of the 
accuracy of the French artillery fire. But 
Brigadier- General von der Esch ran all along 
the line, striking the backs of the soldiers with 
his sword. Thus it was that the brigade re- 
took the fort of Brimont. Afterwards von der 
Esch told the officers that this was the best way 
to make the soldiers advance, and to recall them 
to their duty. 

While we were taking the fort we were con- 
tinuously subjected to the terrible fire of the 
French artillery, which continued to pick off 
our men. Our paymaster Herbert, who now 
had to come a little closer with his supply wag- 
ons in order to distribute the goods, was horri- 
bly afraid but that did not prevent him from 
getting the Iron Cross. 



94 The Diary of a German Soldier 

During the afternoon of September 17th 
Major Schleguer of the 1st Battahon and our 
Major Schmidt ordered Loffelhardt and my- 
self to go to Rheims in search of some cham- 
pagne to celebrate our victory over the Impe- 
rial Guard. We left on bicycles by way of 
Aumenancourt-le-Petit, Bourgcgne and Fres- 
nes. As we were coming out of Fresnes, shells 
began to fall around us. We thought that 
they came from our artillery whose range might 
be too short. We were positive that Rheims 
was not yet occupied by the French. On com- 
ing out of the woods, a regular rain of shells 
greeted us. We did not know what to do, 
and thought that the best thing would be 
to get into the city as quickly as possible. 
There we would be safe. As we were passing 
by a farm where a company of infantry was 
hiding the soldiers asked us : "Where are you 
going? Good luck to you!" All of a sudden 
we found ourselves in the midst of an infernal 
bombardment. '^Shells came from all direc- 
tions and burst all around us. As we were go- 
ing along that beautiful white road the French 



Rheims 95 

artillery, who were really occupying Rheims, 
fired at us as though they were shooting at tar- 
gets. Realizing our mistake, and seeing that 
we had long ago passed the German lines, we 
went back at a dizzy pace. We surely beat all 
speed records, for we had the whole French 
artillery firing at our backs to hurry us away 
and to give us courage. The road went up- 
hill a bit, but just the same we rode on like 
world champions in order to get out of this hell. 
Schmidt, deeply moved, received us with open 
arms: "My poor fellows," he said, "what an 
unfortunate order! To risk your lives for a 
bottle of champagne! You had scarcely left 
when we were informed that our men no longer 
held Rheims and that the road was being sub- 
jected to a terrific bombardment. Luckily 
Heaven protected you! Was that you rush- 
ing along the road like madmen?" This story 
shows what German soldiers are sometimes 
forced to do. Surely Schmidt alone would 
never have given such an order, but Schleguer, 
a Prussian in the true sense of the word, would 
have insisted upon immediate obedience. 



96 The Diary of a German Soldier 

Several soldiers who had eaten their reserve 
rations were tied to a stake with their hands 
behind their backs. On this occasion Private 
Render of the 5th Company, who had served in 
the Foreign Legion in Africa for five years, 
said that there he had never seen soldiers sub- 
jected to such treatment and that all the stories 
told about the Foreign Legion in Germany 
were entirely false. 

On September 19th, we were relieved and 
proceeded to Pignecourt where we took up our 
quarters on a large estate. 



XII 

THE MARCH ON ROYE 

On September 20th we began our march to- 
wards Roye. About three o'clock we passed 
through Neuf chatel. We met detached groups 
of soldiers, belonging to other regiments, lead- 
ing numbers of pigs, horses, cows, etc., which 
they had taken from the inhabitants. They 
said they were taking them to their regiments. 
Upon Schmidt's reminding them that pillaging 
was forbidden they answered that their superi- 
ors had ordered them to requisition these ani- 
mals, but that they had not had time to rejoin 
their units, which had retreated too soon. In 
reality they were marauders. Neufchatel had 
not been shelled, but all the shops had been 
plundered and the goods thrown helter-skelter 
into the middle of the streets. A strong box 
lay in the garden of a villa the windows and 

doors of which were broken. 

97 



98 The Diary of a Gerinan Soldier 

On September 20th, Major Schmidt, Dr. 
Schafer, Dr. Wolkewiz, Lieutenant Kedor, 
Loffelhardt and I stopped at a farm on the 
road to Laon, not far from Neuf chatel, to rest 
and to quench our thirsts. A very sad-looking 
woman received us and asked us if we also had 
come to bring dishonour upon her daughters. 

Schmidt told me to question this woman, so 
I asked her to tell us what had happened. 
Then she took us into a bedroom where she 
showed us the traces of the great crime which 
had just been committed in her house. 

"Three or four hours ago at the most," she 
said, "three soldiers came here and asked me 
for wine and money. I told them that I had 
neither one nor the other and that I was alone 
with my two daughters. They told me to call 
my daughters. I tried to make them change 
their minds, but they would not listen to any- 
thing, and so, because I was afraid of their 
threats, I had to obey. Hardly had they ap- 
peared when the soldiers, like wild beasts, threw 
themselves upon my poor children and pushed 
them into this room, where, despite my cries, 



The March on Roye 99 

they ruined them. One of them put his hand 
over my mouth and held me back, striking me 
the while. Here, gentlemen, you see the traces 
of this wild struggle. I think, from his insig- 
nia," she said, "that one of you gentlemen" 
(she looked at Schafer) "is a doctor. I beg 
him to give my daughters a careful examina- 
tion so that he may testify that I speak the 
truth." Schafer was left alone with the young 
girls and came back a few moments later, re- 
porting to Major Schmidt that they had been 
raped by those blackguards. These two poor 
young ladies, aged respectively eighteen and 
twenty years, no longer dared to look even at 
their mother, and stood ashamed before us. 

We told the ladies that we would put in a 
complaint, but that it would probably have no 
result, for there were so many cads who 
made war in this fashion on innocent people. 
Schmidt told me to ask them if there was any- 
thing more we could do for them. They 
begged us to leave them alone. 

Schmidt complained to Colonel Puder. 
The latter answered that he could do nothing 



100 The Diary of a German Soldier 

because it would be impossible to find those 
blackguards and punish them, just as it was 
impossible to punish marauders and thieves. 
"In that case," he said, "Germany might as 
well make peace immediately, for I see every 
one stealing and every one has rings on his fin- 
gers and jewels in his pockets. We would 
have to jail almost every one." 

Schmidt said to me, regarding this affair, 
"Chariot, we speak badly enough of the Rus- 
sians in Germany, but I think we are no better 
than they Perhaps we are worse !" 

On September 21st, we proceeded slowly 
along the road from Laon. The soldiers were 
singing. Lieutenant Kedor, who had a mania 
for tormenting his men, wished to stop them. 
But they all began to yell, imitating Kedor's 
voice : "Help ! Quick ! I'm wounded !" thus 
recalling to him his stunt in the sand pit, 
and making him furious. In his anger he 
went so far as to strike several men with his 
crop. During one of our halts, he saw some 
soldiers lying on the ground and struck one of 
them on the nape of the neck. This man 



The March on Boye 101 

calmly got up, took his gun, loaded it and aimed 
at Kedor, who immediately began to run in a 
zigzag line, calling for his horse. We were at 
a little distance from this scene and were 
greatly amused by it. Colonel Puder held his 
sides with laughter. Schmidt had the soldier 
brought to him and told him that he had done 
right, and that he ought to defend himself 
against every individual who might attack him, 
whether friend or enemy. Colonel Puder and 
General von der Esch himself also congratu- 
lated the soldier. Kedor had disappeared. But 
since he was aide-de-camp, he would soon have 
to come back for orders. Schmidt took advan- 
tage of the occasion to say to him: "Kedor, 
you have already given us proof of your hero- 
ism by showing us that even in the face of great 
danger you keep your wits about you, and 
know how to get out of it. But the soldier, 
who surely would have killed you if it had not 
been for our cries and bursts of laughter, is 
still braver. In any case, you entertained us 
very well." Kedor was very much downcast 
for a short time, and left the soldiers alone. 



102 The Diary of a German Soldier 

On the twenty-third, we left for Fressan- 
court, La Fere, Chauny and Beaugies, where 
we halted. 

Each company had sent ahead a non-com- 
missioned officer to secure quarters for the bat- 
talion. The peasants of Beaugies, sirnple and 
childlike people, surprised at our strange uni- 
forms which were not French and which they 
hadn't seen before, asked the quartermasters; 
"Are you Enghshmen?" "Yes, yes," ^ the 
latter answered in order to get good quarters, 
and warned us, when we arrived, not to let 
on that we were enemies. These good people 
fought for the privilege of having soldiers 
live with them, and showed us all sorts of 
courtesies. Finally I could not refrain from 
telling them that we were Germans. They 
immediately ran away, as though a bomb had 
fallen in their midst, crying, "The Prussians! 
The Prussians!" It was very funny. 

Thanks to my having made inquiries of the 
maj^or, Major Schmidt and his whole staff 
were quartered in a comfortable farm where 

1 In English in the original. 



The March on Roye 103 

we found food and some excellent wine which I 
had advised the major to send us. Several 
other officers of the battalion came to dine with 
us and, thanks to the wine, many were soon 
completely drunk, including our good Major 
Schmidt. About 1 a. m. I had to go to Mau- 
court for orders, and I learned that we were 
to leave at two o'clock. It was about one 
forty-five when I left Maucourt. I went to 
the police post to warn the trumpeter to 
sound the alarm and then returned to the 
major. I found them all drunk and incapable 
of understanding me. Thanks to Dr. Schafer, 
who seemed a little less intoxicated than the 
others, we finally made Schmidt understand 
what he had to do. He immediately or- 
dered the officers to assemble their troops at 
the village gate within ten minutes. We were 
supposed to leave at two o'clock, but at two 
thirty the battalion had not yet been assem- 
bled, for while the officers were drinking the 
soldiers had been doing the same. Also a 
great many lazy fellows failed to answer the 
roll-call. 



104 The Diary of a German Soldier 

Before arriving at Guiseard we had to halt 
in order to let other troops go by. Most of 
the officers and soldiers threw themselves in 
the ditches along the road, to continue their in- 
teriiipted slumber and to sleep themselves 
sober. Only a snap-shot was lacking. 

At eight o'clock we passed through Guiseard 
and Libermont. 



XIII 
ERCHEU— SOLENTE— CHAMPIEU 

Thanks to our artillery, it was compara- 
tively easy for us to enter the village of Ercheu, 
which, like the rest, was the scene of the usual 
pillage. On our right was the 25th Division 
under the Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt. 
The French were in possession of Solente, a 
very favourable position. The Hessians on 
our right were better located than we were and 
could advance a little. As for us, no sooner 
did one of our patrols venture out, than it was 
immediately shot down. Volunteers were 
asked for in vain ; no one responded. 

At nine o'clock we received the formal order 
to attack at midnight. Loffelhardt, who 
brought us the order, told us that things were 
not going well with us in Northern France and 
Belgium and that the cavalry had been ordered 

105 



106 The Diary of a German Soldier 

to leave immediately by rail, because the Eng- 
lish Army was offering an unexpected resist- 
ance. 

So the battle of Solente took place the night 
of September 24th-25th, 1914. It was ter- 
rible. French and Germans fought with blind 
fury and neither side gave any quarter. The 
heroic defence of the French again caused us 
terrible losses, and we entered Solente at 5 
A. M. only by literally walking over the dead 
and wounded. 

The eldest son of Major Schmidt, who had 
joined the battalion only a short time ago, met 
his death in this slaughter house. The father's 
grief was heartrending. To those who tried 
to console him, by saying that his son had died 
for his country, he answered: "What do I 
care about your country? Why do we need a 
war?" 

On entering Solente I witnessed a horrible 
scene. A German soldier had gone into a 
house to make some coffee. Near the stove 
was an old woman, sitting up in bed. On her 
right, an old man in a chair. About two feet 



Ercheu — Solent e — Champieu 107 

from this group, a young woman was sitting 
nursing her baby. A shell which had ex- 
ploded in the room had mortally wounded the 
old woman in the head, the old man was cut 
in two, the soldier was lying on the ground, 
dead, while the young woman was sitting in 
her chair with her head cut off, but the baby 
in her arms was entirely unharmed. No one 
who saw this terrible sight could help crying. 

During the whole day of the twenty-fifth the 
fierce struggle continued for the possession of 
the to^vn of Champieu, which we had to take 
house by house. Our artillery aimed very 
well. 

Near the City Hall were lying the bodies of 
more than sixty Frenchmen and dying horses, 
who must have been kicking about among the 
wounded. One dead Frenchman still held a 
German helmet in his hand. Opposite this 
scene the field kitchens were installed, and 
drunken soldiers were singing cabaret songs 
at the top of their voices. A phonograph was 
going and Private Schreiner of the 6th Com- 
pany was playing a waltz on his accordion. 



108 The Diary of a German Soldier 

In one corner a Munich painter was calmly 
sketching the scene. In front of every house 
the bodies of French and Germans were lying 
all jumbled in a heap. One young French- 
woman, who had just come out of a cellar 
where she had been hiding, started to shout in 
the middle of the street, "Down with the 
Huns!" She was immediately bayoneted to 
death. 

Many Frenchmen who had suffered only 
slight bullet wounds were, nevertheless, found 
dead, their breasts pierced by bayonets or their 
skulls shattered by musket blows. The order, 
given by the brigade, to give no quarter, had 
apparently been carried out by killing the 
wounded. 

On the twenty-seventh we buried the dead. 
The identification tags of the German soldiers 
were carefully collected, but no one bothered 
about the French, who were thrown pell-mell 
into the trenches, which were then covered with 
earth. An affecting ceremony was held when 
Reserve Lieutenant Beck and Major Schmidt's 
son were buried. ^ 



Ercheu — Solent e — Champieu 109 

A woman of the village went mad and was 
sent to a lunatic asylum. 

"Why all this massacre? this slaughter? 
What do those people who started this war 
really want?" said Colonel Puder himself, much 
affected by the death of Schmidt's son, for 
whom he had cared a good deal. 



XIV 
ROYE 

On September 30th, 1914, we began the 
assault on Roye, the following troops taking 
part: 80th Fusiliers, 81st, 87th and 88th Infan- 
try regiments of the 18th Ai-my Corps; 82nd, 
83d, 84th and 85th Infantry regiments of the 
21st Army Corps. There were thus eight in- 
fantry regiments, not to speak of the artillery, 
who had previously destroyed the town, espe- 
cially the northern part. This bombardment 
did the French much harm. The orphanage, 
which had been turned into a hospital, was set 
on fire and many of the wounded were burned 
alive. 

We left the town in pursuit of the French. 
But, almost immediately, we had to seek shel- 
ter in a sand pit on the road from Roye to 
Amiens. 

110 



Eoye 111 

As we were coming out of Roye, six French 
soldiers who had not been able to rejoin their 
comrades, surrendered. Major Schlegler of 
the 3rd Battalion immediately ordered those 
soldiers who were standing nearby to shoot 
these unfortunate men. But not one of them 
would execute this barbaric command and 
all tried to get away. Then Schlegler with 
his revolver killed one of the French soldiers, 
telling his men: *'If you don't obey me I'll 
kill you like him." So the remaining five 
prisoners were shot down by the soldiers. 

Schlegler however couldn't boast for long of 
his cruelty for hardly had the last prisoner 
fallen, when he himself was shot from the left. 
He in his turn fell dead. Lieutenant Abraham 
delivered the funeral oration: *'Such a death 
was too fine for this murderer." 

At almost the same time, Kedor was quite 
seriously wounded, his right forearm being 
shattered by a bullet. The soldiers did not 
hesitate to say that the man who had shot at 
him had unfortunately not aimed quite accu- 
rately enough. Every one was happy about 



112 The Diary of a German Soldier 

it, and men came up to him, laughing in their 
sleeves, while asking him hypocritically: "Is 
the lieutenant suffering much?" 

"No," answered Kedor, making a wry face. 

"Come, come, buck up, and show that you 
are a Prussian officer," said Schmidt. 

The latter showing his right hand, which 
had just then been slightly scratched by a 
passing shell, added : 

"Now I've had enough of this rotten busi- 
ness — I'm going home. Let those who want 
to fight, fight! I don't!" 

With these words Schmidt bade us good-bye 
and went to the field hospital. Right after 
this he left for Germany. 

On the next day we heard that Colonel 
Puder had feigned illness, and that he also 
had left for Germany. 

On our right the 25th Division had just 
taken possession of Soyencourt and Fresnay- 
les-Roye; the 87th took Parvillers. 

On October 3rd, Lieutenant- Colonel Bren- 
tano was made commander of the 88th. Our 
new battalion chief was Captain Bartsch, a 



Roye 113 

former orderly of the commander of the 21st 
Division. 

On that day we took Quesnoy-en-Santerre, 
which was in ruins. We found nothing there 
but some poultry. 

On October 7th, 1914, we were joined by 
reinforcements from Mayence. Among them 
were many soldiers who had already been 
wounded and had recovered. They did not 
show any enthusiasm. 

October 5th, 1914, the new trench warfare 
commenced for us. Each battalion spent two 
days resting behind the lines and then four 
days in the trenches. We took up our quar- 
ters at Carrepuits, near Roye. 

From October 13th to 26th we stayed before 
Quesnoy-en-Santerre. 

During this time the troops had the big job 
of digging and arranging the trenches. 

On October 27th, the French attacked us 
simultaneously from three sides and we lost 
our first line trenches. When we reported this 
bit of news to Lieutenant Anspach, Regimen- 
tal Adjutant, he said: "You are a band of 



114 The Diary of a German Soldier 

cowards, and you ought to be ashamed of be- 
ing Germans." This Anspach, a fellow of 
Kedor's type, was himself the greatest coward 
in the regiment, and during engagements spent 
most of his time with the kitchens. Now he 
was almost always in a dug-out. 

On October 28th, the army corps ordered 
us to attack in order to regain our first line 
trenches. But the French gave us a fine re- 
ception. We were completely beaten, leaving 
four hundred prisoners, two guns and four ma- 
chine guns in the hands of the enemy. We 
also lost all our telephone apparatus, and had 
to retreat still further to a place about two 
hundred metres north of Damery. We had 
had nothing to eat for two days and in front 
of us lay more than two hundred German 
corpses. 

Finally, on November 2nd, we were re- 
lieved and sent to rest up at Soyecourt until 
November 6th. Now we had to turn the 
trenches into veritable forts. They had to be 
very deep, with communicating passageways. 
Comfortable and safe shelters were dug, both 



Roye 115 

for officers and soldiers. There were doors, 
beds, chairs, mattresses. In our battalion we 
even had a piano. In December, electricity 
was installed. We were bombarded three 
times a day, but the shells did not do much 
damage. Every evening at nine o'clock the 
kitchens served us a hot meal, with tea, rum 
and other alcoholic drinks. At four in the 
morning they brought us hot coffee. Some 
men thought the life was quite bearable in com- 
parison with our past sufferings. 



y 



XV 

THE GERMANS AT ROYE 

We now spent all our rest periods in Roye 
itself, in spite of the bombardments, and we re- 
mained there four days at a time. 

A captain of the 80th was appointed gov- 
ernor of the city. He chose as mayor, a baker 
named Lefevre, making him responsible for 
anything that might come up. 

He had to draw up a list of all the inhabi- 
tants. All men from sixteen to forty-four 
were sent to Germany. Every one else had 
to work for the Germans. 

From December on all the women had to 
wash for the German soldiers. They earned 
one franc a day, paid by the city with vouch- 
ers, while all contributions had to be paid in 
silver or gold. Others had to make sand 
bags for the trenches. The men cleaned the 

stieets and pulled down houses which were too 

lie 



The Germans at Roye 117 

badly damaged. Three, named by the mayor, 
acted as policemen. 

As a matter of fact, the soldiers scarcely 
benefited at all from these rest periods, be- 
cause every day they had one hour of company 
drill and at least two hours of battalion drill. 
At noon there was a medical inspection and a 
review; at one o'clock, patriotic singing. 
These prescribed duties had to be completed 
whether there was a bombardment or not. 

Pretending that its steeple served as a tar- 
get for the French artillery, the chief of staff 
ordered the church of Roye to be pulled down. 
It gave our engineers great pleasure to ex- 
ecute this order and soon only the foundations 
of the building were left. The chairs, stalls, 
the pulpit, confessionals and the pews were 
used for firewood by the soldiers. 

These men preferred staying in the trenches 
to resting behind the lines; there they were 
really better sheltered from shells and further- 
more did not have to drill. 

The headquarters of the battalions and 
companies were permanently established in 



118 The Diary of a German Soldier 

Roye. Every evening the sergeant majors 
came to the trenches to make their reports. 
Some men who were in with the non-commis- 
sioned officers were permanently attached to 
the office and walked about town, running 
after women or getting drunk. The kitchens 
and all the offices were also at Roye. 

Many non-commissioned as well as com- 
missioned officers obtained mistresses, almost 
always by threat and violence. 

On December 22nd, our battalion cele- 
brated Christmas two days ahead of time be- 
cause on the twenty-fourth, we were to go back 
to the trenches and it was easier to have a cele- 
bration in the ^ city. The captain who com- 
manded the battalion in the absence of 
Schmidt (who, since his recovery, was com- 
manding a detachment at Ham) addressed us 
as follows: 

"Dear Comrades: 

"We cannot celebrate this German holiday 
in the midst of our families. A world of ene- 
mies is marshalled against us in order to crush 



The Germans at Roye 119 

us and to seize our property, oui' wives, our 
children. Cowards that they are, they at- 
tacked us, but we've shown them that we're still 
the same old Germans who know how, sword 
in hand, to defend themselves and to protect 
their country. We are fighting, and we are 
ready to die for this holy cause. I ask you to 
shout with me: 

"Long live his Majesty, Emperor Wil- 
liam II. 

"Hoch! Hoch! Hoch!" 

Lieutenant Nolte of the 6th Uhlans thanked 

the captain and then some soldiers, grouped 

about a piano, started the song: "Stille 

Nacht, Heilige Nacht/' ^ 

Just as they finished the last verse, a shell 

burst behind the wall, in the cemetery. Some 
soldiers who went out, came back and told us 
that several graves had been torn open and 
that the limbs and remains of the dead were 
scattered all over. This incident rather damp- 
ened our enjoyment of this "Stille Nacht." 
When the celebration was over the soldiers 

1 Silent Night, Holy Night. 



120 The Diary of a German Soldier 

went back to their companies, where they got 
beer and alcoholic drinks in such quantities that 
soon all of them were disgustingly drunk. 
They scattered through the streets, knocking 
at doors of houses where they knew that ladies 
were living. It is true, patrols had been or- 
dered, as is usually done on such occasions, but 
the patrols themselves and their commanders 
were as drunk as the others and instead of pun- 
ishing them, they helped them make a racket, 
and cause disorder. 

In our battalion we had a "Beer Evening," 
at which all the officers were present. One 
knows what that is. As long as it lasts no 
other drinks ought to be taken. But there 
were so many other drinks that soon the offi- 
cers were as badly off as the soldiers. 

On December 24th, 1914, our new chief, 
Major Bogge, arrived. He was a former 
captain of the 65th Infantry from Cologne, 
whence he had been removed because he was 
too cruel to his men. Then he had been sent 
to the General Staff at Berlin, where he was 
made a battalion chief. 



The Germans at Roye 121 

After this he became commander of the fort 
at Stuttgart. Rogge, who was a great cow- 
ard and was coming to the front for the first 
time, was very much afraid of shells. When 
he heard one come, he writhed like a snake. 
The soldiers hardly ever laughed when shells 
were falling into the trenches, but no one who 
saw Rogge could help laughing at him. As 
soon as he arrived in our dug-out his first ques- 
tion was: "Can one live here without being 
shot?" We tried to calm him by telling him 
that the enemy was not aiming at us, but at 
Roye. "You've done your work well," he told 
us, "everywhere I've been there's not a single 
house standing. What are all those graves 
which I saw along the road, marked with caps 
or helmets? Tell me something about a bat- 
tle? What really happens?" Then Lieuten- 
ant Nolte gave him a terrifying description 
in which nothing was lacking — the shattered 
limbs, cries of the wounded, frenzied horses, 
etc. "Just imagine. Major, I saw one man 
walking in Tours, with his entrails coming out 
of his open belly." Rogge did not wish to 



122 The Diary of a German Soldier 

hear any more; he turned pale and drops of 
perspiration beaded his forehead. He did not 
eat anything during the entire meal. Nolte's 
talk had taken away his appetite. But he 
made up for it by drinking like a fish. Nolte 
signed to us to hide the wine bottles, because 
it seemed as though Rogge were going to leave 
nothing for the rest of us. It was astonishing 
to see how much that man could drink, — a 
professional would have been afraid to com- 
pete with him. 

If it had occurred to the French to attack us 
that evening there would not have been much 
resistance, although we had taken the precau- 
tion of doubling sentries. 

On December 31st, we celebrated New 
Year's Eve at Gruny, near Soyecourt, where 
we were resting. We heard the muffled roar 
of cannon and the sky was ablaze with red and 
white rockets. This did not hinder the sol- 
diers from joyously firing their guns into the 
air in honour of the New Year which was to 
bring us peace. 

In the evening every one was royally drunk. 



The Germans at Roye 123 

In our battalion we were all gathered about 
Rogge, who presided. A drunken soldier 
tried to force his way in with his gun. After 
he had been thrown out, he came back with a 
sabre, and if it had not been for Dr. Wolke- 
wiz, who grabbed my arm, I should have been 
stabbed to the heart. Rogge wished to have 
him shot but his comrades had already hidden 
him. This little incident, however, did not 
prevent us from going on drinking beer, wine 
and liquors. Soon several officers rolled under 
the table. Rogge was happy. 

The soldiers were doing the same thing. 
They fought and made a deafening racket all 
night long. If there had been an alarm we 
could not have assembled even a single com- 
pany. 

On January 2nd, a French aviator hovered 
over our lines for a long while. Our artillery 
aimed at him in vain. Shrapnel burst about 
him, but he was not hit. After he had found 
out what he wished to know, he rose and re- 
turned to the French lines, to report. Our 
officers called the artillery "pigs" — "trash," 



124 The Diary of a German Soldier 

etc., because of their awkwardness, but they 
only laughed. They had no doubt done their 
best because, for every aeroplane brought 
down, the battery received a barrel of beer. 

A few days afterwards we received regi- 
mental orders to sound unexpected night 
alarms, whenever the battalion was not on the 
march. Under Schmidt these alarms had al- 
ways taken place at nine o'clock, so that the 
men could have a night's rest. No one ever 
failed to report and Schmidt was always 
pleased. But with Rogge, everything was 
different. 

On January 2nd, 1915, we celebrated the 
first six months of the war. Sergeant Major 
Hauser, secretary of the battalion, went to 
Rogge in the name of all the non-commis- 
sioned officers to ask him not to have the alarm 
sounded that night, because the non-commis- 
sioned officers were going to have a little 
party. Rogge promised. This is how he kept 
his promise. 

It seems that the non-commissioned officers 
drank a great deal. But with us, as soon as 



The Germans at Roye 125 

one emptied his glass it would have to be filled 
again, for Rogge's great pleasure was to make 
all his guests drunk. Some young lieuten- 
ants asked permission to go to bed, but Rogge 
would let no one leave. About 3 a. m. Lieu- 
tenant von Stein was so drunk that he had 
to be carried to bed. He looked like a dead 
man, for he no longer moved a muscle. This 
amused Rogge very much. At four o'clock 
Rogge ordered us to sound the alarm. We 
reminded him of his promise, but he answered, 
*'This band of peasants has had enough sleep; 
they must not forget that they are soldiers." 
The orderlies left immediately to warn the 
companies. We tried our best to awake von 
Stein, but in vain. He did not stir. Rogge 
then told us to pour a pail of water over his 
head. This measure met with no success ; von 
Stein continued to snore. So Rogge said to 
us, "Leave that pig there, the drunkard alone, 
since there is no way of waking him." 

We repaired to the meeting place, where 
the companies were already assembled. But 
the soldiers were grumbling and many were 



126 The Diary of a German Soldier 

missing. Private Merkel, of the 8th Com- 
pany, whom Lieutenant Nolte reminded that 
he had forgotten his saucepan, answered; 

"Yes, Lieutenant, but I'm not drunk as 
some others are." The officer commanding 
the 5th Company was missing, but when Ser- 
geant Major Saltenberger reported this to the 
chief, the latter answered: "Go to the devil." 

Rogge collected the commissioned and non- 
commissioned officers and said to them: 
"Gentlemen, this is disgraceful. If you and I 
can report, I am sure these peasants can do as 
much." 

Sergeant Major Saltenberger assembled the 
non-commissioned officers of the 5th Com- 
pany and imitating Rogge addressed them in 
the following manner : "Gentlemen, I'm very 
much pleased with your answer to the alarm. 
I promised you there would be none, but never- 
theless, I had to disturb your sleep. I regret 
that the commander of the 5th Company 
should have been absent, for that's a black 
mark for us. I advise you, gentlemen, not 
to imitate him, for we superior officers, what- 



The Germans at Roye 127 

ever our rank, ought always to set a good 
example. Good night, gentlemen. Break 
ranks." Rogge, who had heard everything, 
was furious but could do nothing. A few 
days later, Sergeant Major Saltenberger was 
declared unfit for service, by the doctor, be- 
cause of his nerves, and was sent back to Ger- 
many. 

Our new position (between Parvillers and 
Dumery) was more dangerous. All day and 
all night shells rained down on the trenches. 
Every day we had fifteen or twenty killed and 
wounded. 

On February 12th, we were sent to Nesles 
for a two weeks' rest. The city had not suf- 
fered much but the inhabitants complained bit- 
terly of the troops, who were plundering every- 
thing. 

On February 24th, Lieutenant-Colonel 
Brentano reported sick and left for Germany. 
Rogge was made commander of the 88th. 
He "cleaned out the regiment," as he said. 
Anspach, the regimental adjutant, was made 
commander of the 7th Company, and von 



128 The Diary of a German Soldier 

Stein took his place with Rogge. Nolte, al- 
though only a reserve officer, was made 
Rogge's aide-de-camp — an unheard of thing, 
but Rogge could not do without him. Schiel- 
lein, a wine merchant from Mayence, who up 
to now had been in the quartermaster's depart- 
ment, lost his place and was sent with Anspach 
to the 7th Company. Rogge did this to 
avenge himself on Schiellein because he owed 
the latter a large sum and thought to get rid 
of his creditor by sending him under fire. A 
short time before he had asked Schiellein for 
several cases of champagne, and the latter had 
refused them to him, because he knew that he 
would never be able to collect for them. Re- 
serve Lieutenant Rickert, a theological stu- 
dent, was made adjutant of the 2nd Battalion. 
That same day, Rickert, Loffelhardt and I 
went to see Major Schmidt, commanding a de- 
tachment of young recruits at Ham, to talk 
over all these changes with him. He told us 
that there would be a great review in two days, 
and that he would then ask to be returned to 
his battalion. 



The Germans at Roye 129 

The review did, in fact, take place before 
Grand Duke Louis of Hesse who said that he 
was very well satisfied with Schmidt's recruits 
and awarded the latter a medal for bravery. 
The training of the recruits was over, so 
Schmidt asked and obtained permission to re- 
sume command of his former battalion. All 
the soldiers were pleased, for they cared a lot 
for him and called him "Papa Schmidt." 

Of course, relations between Schmidt and 
Rogge became very much strained. They 
hated each other and Rogge made use of every 
opportunity to criticize Schmidt. 



XVI 

THE FORMATION OF THE 56th 
DIVISION 

On March 5th, we were ordered to throw 
away our guns and ammunition, because we 
were going to get Russian guns instead. We 
were also told to move our camp farther on, 
because the three battalions were to take up 
quarters on the next day in three villages be- 
tween Ham and St. Quentin. The 2nd Bat- 
talion was to go to Fluquieres. The convoys 
that were bringing ammunition to the batteries 
of the 210th, stationed at Sovencourt were 
there too. LofFelhardt and I called on the 
governor of Ham who was also the lieuten- 
ant of artillery in charge of the distribution of 
ammunition. He was living in the chateau 
at Ham. He greeted us pleasantly, and told 
us that Major Schmidt and his staff were wel- 

130 



The Formation of the 56th Division 131 

come to live with him in the chateau. That 
night, for the first time since August 20th, 
1914, we did not hear the guns. 

In the town, where we went to find quarters 
for our men, we were badly received by the 
inhabitants who complained that they had had 
to entertain soldiers continuously for the last 
five months. One man said to me: "We no 
longer know how to protect our wives and 
daughters. All the Germans try to get mis- 
tresses, in any manner possible. The com- 
mandant always supports the soldiers, and be- 
sides he himself keeps a young gu'l whom he 
has made his mistress in his chateau by force." 
When we saw the conmaandant again we men- 
tioned this matter. Laughing, he asked us if 
our ofllicers also hunted women and were in 
love with some little French girls. Loffel- 
hardt told him that we were a fighting unit, 
and not in the quartermaster's department — 
also that we waged war on soldiers, not on 
civilians and above all not on women. 

"My friend, you're amusing," replied the 
lieutenant. "In any case, I'm prudently go- 



132 The Diary of a German Soldier 

ing to hide my angel so that no harm will come 
to her!" 

With that, he left us, to do as he had said. 
Who was "his angel"? Probably some un- 
happy girl whom he was holding in the 
chateau. 

We told Schmidt about this, but he only 
shrugged his shoulders and said that every one 
makes war in his own way. As the officer 
made our stay at Ham as pleasant as possible, 
Schmidt said nothing to him about it. 

On March 8th we were quartered at Bohain 
where we remained for some time. 

On March 11th we handled our Russian 
guns for the first time. Instruction in their 
use began immediately. We could not under- 
stand why they gave us such poor ones. 

On March 15th, we received the following 
order : 

"The 35th, 88th, and 118th Infantry, the 
latter two regiments forming part of the 18th 
Corps, will make up the 112th Brigade of 
Infantry which will be part of the 56th Divi- 
sion. Each battalion is to furnish twenty 



The Formation of the 56th Division 133 

men who will form a company of cyclists and 
accompany the staff of the division. The 
55th Division will also comprise a squadron 
of the 13th Hussars and the 111th and 112th 
Artillery regiments, to each of which shall 
be attached three heavy batteries besides their 
regular ones." 

The commander of the new division was a 
General Eberhard, who had been the instruc- 
tor of Prince Joachim of Prussia. The com- 
mander of the brigade was Colonel Munter, 
who had commanded the 41st Brigade since 
December, 1914. 

On March 19th, we were ordered to be ready 
to leave in the morning. 

Our battalion, which thus far had behaved 
pretty decently, spoiled its reputation, on 
leaving Bohain by stealing a large quantity 
of wine. Some men of the 7th Company 
broke open the door of a cellar, which had 
been sealed by the commandant, and took 
possession of all the wine they found there. 
Almost the whole company was drunk. The 
sergeant major, named Dombach, had two 



184 The Diary of a German Soldier 

hundi^ed bottles of wine loaded on a wagon, 
expecting to drink them later on with his 
friends. But he did not touch one of them, 
for we told Major Schmidt about it and he 
ordered it all to be taken for the battalion staff. 
So after all we were the ones to drink the stolen 
wine. 

At 2 p. M. we took the train for Cateau, 
Charleville, Sedan and Attigny, where we 
were to stop. 

The journey was gloomy, and the train no 
longer bore inscriptions, like there were on that 
which took us to Luxemburg in August, 1914, 
— "Express for Paris," or "Declarations of 
War received here." 

Natm-e alone seemed obhvious to the war, 
for the meadows and grain fields were iust 
beginning to turn green. 



XVII 
GIVRY 

About 10 p.m. we were ordered to make 
ready to leave Attigny for Givry, where we 
were to stay until further orders. Loffelhardt 
and I set out to seek quarters for our staff 
and to find stable room for one hundred and 
twenty horses. 

The governor, a cavalry captain, thought 
fit to stick Schmidt in a dirty room, which was 
already occupied by a sick woman, while the 
rest of us, the doctor included, had to sleep 
with the men in the barn. 

Schmidt's rage may be imagined. He was 
all the more angry because right opposite to 
him a young cavalry lieutenant was strutting 
about a hotel, all by himself. The next day 
he told the governor that he wished to have 
the hotel vacated immediately, in order to 
make room for himself and his staff. The 

135 



136 The Diary of a German Soldier 

magnificent lieutenant was ordered to pack 
himself off before noon. The latter then 
started to strip the hotel and to have all the 
furnitm^e carried outside, not forgetting the 
"German stove." Knowing that it would be 
impossible to find even a single chair in the 
village, I warned Schmidt of the lieutenant's 
action, and he stationed a sentinel with loaded 
rifle in front of the hotel with orders to shoot 
any one who attempted to carry off anything 
whatsoever. He told me to inform the lieu- 
tenant of this order. No sooner had I de- 
livered my message than this fellow yelled at 
me insolently : 

"And who are you, my good fellow? Get 
out of my way immediately or I'll strike you 
in the face with my crop." 

It was in vain that I told him that I was 
only giving him Schmidt's message. He 
wouldn't listen to anything I said. 

Schmidt, told of this, sent me back with 
Rickert whom he ordered to bring the lieu- 
tenant to him, by force if necessary. 

When he saw Rickert, the cavalry lieuten- 



Givry 137 

ant saluted him politely and followed him with- 
out any protest. 

We had never seen Schmidt in such a rage. 
He shouted so that all the soldiers, who hap- 
pened to be in the street ran to hide them- 
selves; they expected that he would strike the 
lieutenant with his crop, and they did not want 
to have to testify against him. 

As soon as the lieutenant appeared, Schmidt 
yelled at him : "How dare you, you miserable 
lazy fellow, insult and threaten any one who 
comes in my name? Stand still, not one step 
or I'll accuse you of insubordination. Give 
me your name! What's your business here? 
How can you have the cheek to strip that 
house?" In exasperation Schmidt brandished 
his crop. 

The lieutenant answered: "I have the 
honour to report to the major that I was hav- 
ing the beds, the piano and all the furniture re- 
moved as well as the stove and all the wines 
of the place, because I consider them to be my 
property." 

"Aren't you ashamed," answered Schmidt, 



138 The Diary of a German Soldier 

"to lie that way — But no, you're right 
—we're just beginning to find out that all of 
you in the quartermaster's department and 
in the rear are nothing but a band of shame- 
less robbers, who spoil the reputation of the 
German army, while we are having our jaws 
broken in the trenches. See that the hotel is 
in order in one hour's time and that not a pin 
is missing, or I'll have you reported for steal- 
ing and that'll teach you to cut up and defy 
brave soldiers like us who have just come from 
the front." 

Once we were settled in this fellow's quar- 
ters Schmidt asked me to try my utmost to 
find some eggs for breakfast, so I went to the 
house of a villager who had some chickens. 

"I'll tell you, sir," he said, "I've got some 
chickens, but I'm not allowed to sell them, 
give them away or eat them myself, and the 
same with the eggs. Everything is at the dis- 
posal of the governor, who sends an orderly 
every week to see if I still have my quota. If 
a single one is missing, I've got to pay one 
hundred marks," Schmidt, who was in the 



Givry 139 

humour for putting an end to abuses, started 
a row at the governor's house and made him 
rescind his command. The grateful villager 
sent Schmidt a basket of eggs. 

At Givry, I for the fii'st time witnessed a 
case of insubordination. A soldier threw his 
gun down in front of Lieutenant Schaller, 
commanding the 2nd Company, saying: 

* 'Here's your old gun — Stick me in 
prison ; I'm tired of being treated like a kid." 

Schaller had the man arrested and taken be- 
fore the major after drill. 

*'Well, my good fellow," said Schmidt, 
** what's got into you? I'm going to give you 
a taste of the punisliment you deserve, but be- 
cause of your wife and children. Lieutenant 
Schaller 's complaint shall go no further." 

The man was tied to a tree with his hands be- 
hind his back and a sentinel with a loaded gun 
was stationed near him. The sentinel sat in a 
chair smoking a cigar, which showed the soldier 
that he had acted like a fool and that it was 
better to obey orders. 

On the twenty-second, we were ordered to 



140 The Diary of a German Soldier 

Savigny because our division was soon going 
to return to the trenches. About two o'clock 
Loffelhardt and I wanted to go into Vouziers, 
but a policeman stopped us. No one was 
allowed to enter the city just then because the 
Emperor was reviewing the Guard. Extra- 
ordinary precautions were taken to insure the 
Kaiser's safety. A squadron of German aero- 
planes flew above Vouziers during the whole of 
his stay, and he was protected by a regular 
iron wall. On the following day, the Ar- 
dennes Journal, a German paper edited in 
French, announced that his Majesty had gone 
to the firing line (Vouziers was then hardly 
twenty kilometres from the front) and had dis- 
tributed Iron Crosses among his brave soldiers 
of the Guard (the same who had run away at 
Rheims and who had lost the fort at Brimont 
which we had been obliged to retake) . 

Vouziers was often bombarded by French 
aviators. The General Headquarters of Gen- 
eral von Einem, Commandant of the Third 
Army, were located there. 

After the review we entered Vouziers. The 



Givry 141 

soldiers of the Guard were walking about the 
streets, most of them drunk, because beer had 
been generously distributed after the review. 

At Savigny, Kedor, who had had enough of 
the trenches, pretended that his wounded arm 
hindered him from riding horseback, and was 
sent to Mayence. 



XVIII 

IN CHAMPAGNE 

On March 25th, 1915, we took possession of 
our new sector between Le Mesnil-les-Hurlus 
and Ville-sur-Tourbe, popularly called "The 
Devil's Hole." It was a nasty position, a 
place specially made for breaking one's neck. 
One was hardly sheltered there and had almost 
no communication with the rear. During the 
four days that we stayed in the first line 
trenches, we could get nothing from the kitch- 
ens. Each man, before he set out, got a three- 
pound loaf of bread, a bit of fat (butter or 
cheese), his canteen and two bottles filled with 
coffee. This had to do him for four days. 
The men were prepared to attack, their cloaks 
roiled up and their bags filled with hand 
grenades. Behind this position there was a 
second one called "support." Finally in the 
third Hne trenches were the reserves. We 

142 



In Champagne 143 

were immediately sent to the first line. Never 
since the beginning of the war had we been 
in such a horrible place. We were surrounded 
on all sides by the bodies of dead Germans and 
Frenchmen, and sinceiom^ trenches had a depth 
of hardly sixty centimetres, we frequently had 
to use the dead as bulwarks. All those bodies 
which had not been buried were a terrible 
sight. I do not know what prevented us from 
going mad. The French lines were hardly 
twenty to thirty metres from us. Because the 
two lines, far from being straight, made all 
sorts of turns, death approached us from all 
sides without our ever being able to tell 
whether the bullets were French or German. 
The trenches were so shallow that it was im- 
possible to walk upright, and we had to crawl 
or doube up. We had no shelter, indeed it 
would have been useless for the French artil- 
lery, which never stopped firing, would have 
destroyed it and besides how could the ma- 
terials have been brought to us? Every single 
man who wished to reach the trenches had to 
slip in between the dead. ^ In various places 



144 The Diary of a German Soldier 

arms and legs sticking up from the ground 
helped to point the way. For instance, we 
said, "A few metres to the left you will see 
a hand sticking up from the ground wearing 
a wedding ring: the left wing of the battalion 
is about twenty metres in a straight line from 
there." In order to shoot we had to push aside 
bodies right and left, and since no one ever 
knew where they were shooting, because of the 
irregular line, many soldiers killed their own 
comrades. 

Most of all, we were afraid of aeroplane 
bombs. We heard them start off, then all of a 
sudden we saw faintly a sort of a bottle way 
up in the sky — which, slowly describing a para- 
bola, landed in the trenches and exploded. If 
we could have sought a shelter as soon as we 
saw them coming we might have had a chance, 
but where were we to go? When the bomb 
had burst all the men, who had lain down flat 
on the ground, raised themselves in order to 
see the damage. It was a terrible sight. One 
time, I remember I saw two men cut in tiny 
pieces and a third was so terribly riddled that 



In Champagne 145 

his body was like a skimmer. The head of one 
of the dead men could not be found. Since 
no one could be buried, the bodies were simply 
thrown in front or in back of the trenches. It 
is impossible to describe our suflPerings and our 
anguish during those four days. 

At last the moment of our escape from this 
hell arrived. But it took us more than three 
hours to get out of the trenches because we 
had to take great precautions. The battle 
field was really continuously lit up by French 
and German rockets and in order to get 
away we had to creep in between the bodies 
in single file so that we looked like a proces- 
sion of ghosts. If one of our men was 
wounded we had to let him die there, for it 
would have been impossible to carry him to the 
second line, without risking our own lives. All 
of us had only one idea, to get something to 
eat as soon as possible for we were literally 
dying of hunger, since almost all of our pro- 
, visions had been eaten during the first two 
days. At last we came to a place where a 
machine gun was set up and where the ground 



146 The Diary of a German Soldier 

allowed us to walk upright and to advance 
more rapidly. Unfortunately the French 
shells rained on, and killed many more of our 
men. Finally this bad half hour was over and 
we reached the auxiliary position. This really 
formed a part of the first line, for we were still 
only sixty or eighty metres from the French, 
but here there were shelters and we were in 
relative safety. The aerial bombs could no 
longer reach us, but the shells and, above all, 
the shrapnel poured down on us unceasingly; 
the stretcher bearers and nurses had so much to 
do that they could not even take time to eat. 
The wounded were transported to the rear, and 
the dead were buried in the regimental ceme- 
tery, prepared behind the shelter of Schmidt's 
staff. A helmet or a fragment of the shell that 
killed him was placed on each man's grave. 

One day I was present at the funeral of a 
non-commissioned officer of the 2nd Com- 
pany, who had just been killed. Shells rained 
on us from all sides, while several German 
aviators who had just arrived on the scene 
attempted to attack the French. While the 



In Champagne 147 

soldiers were singing a sort of a funeral hymn 
and were lowering the body into the grave, 
a bomb fell in our midst killing six men and 
wounding just about as many. We left the 
body without continuing the ceremonies, and 
every one hurried into the shelter, while a 
regukr storm of French shells beat down on 
the cemetery. 

At the end of eight days, if you count the 
time we spent in the first line trenches, we 
were sent to Ripont for four days' rest. It 
would have been better to have been left where 
we were, for there was no shelter at Ripont 
and the French artillery fire was just as bad. 
Nevertheless, we were able to get a shave for 
the first time in twelve days. When the artil- 
lery was not firing, the soldiers played cards 
or cleaned their new Russian guns. These 
often went off by themselves, and caused sev- 
eral accidents. On account of the steady fire 
we did not have to drill. 

When our rest period was over, we had to 
return to our "Devil's Hole," where during our 
first four days we had lost fifty-eight dead and 



148 The Diary of a German Soldier 

as many wounded. All the soldiers were 
downcast and discouraged. We had hardly 
arrived when Rogge instructed us to be pre- 
pared for a night attack. The men got a 
mixture of tea and about ninety per cent, alco- 
hol. Our attack, which met with no success, 
was led by Captain Baron von der Recke, who 
was seriously wounded. On the following day 
there came an order from the 8th Reserve 
Army Corps, in which we had been incorpor- 
ated. The general complained of the coward- 
ice of the battalion, which had failed in the 
attack, and impressed on us the fact that we 
had to make still greater effort to drive back 
the French who had succeeded in penetrating 
our part of the lines. The soldiers were 
broken hearted and many wrote home, think- 
ing that it was perhaps for the last time. 
That evening the tea contained even more 
alcohol. Besides, a little while before the at- 
tack each group of eight men received a bottle 
of cognac, so that they all became veritable 
beasts. At eleven o'clock we crawled out of 
our holes like ghosts, slipping in between the 



In Champagne 149 

corpses. We lay on our stomachs, our knives 
held in our teeth, and our bags full of hand 
grenades, clutching our rifles, until the moment 
when the order was given to spring forward. 
Our men acted like wild beasts. Orders had 
been given to spare no one, and even the 
wounded were killed. But the French de- 
fended themselves like lions and we had to give 
way. The only result was, that about half of 
the battalion were killed or wounded or taken 
prisoners. We had to go back to our lines 
creeping in between the dead. French and 
Germans shot bright rockets into the air, so 
that the night was turned into day. The 35th 
and 80th regiments on our left and the 18th 
on our right never stopped firing all night long 
and the artillery and French machine guns 
made a great disturbance on their side. 
Schmidt said: "Isn't there a bullet for us 
too? When will this slaughter end?" 

This time we were sent to rest between Grat- 
reuil and Ripont in a place where the engi- 
neers had dug huge subterranean shelters, each 
one holding two hundred and fifty men. 



150 The Diary of a German Soldier 

These shelters were covered with earth and tree 
trunks, and were out of the way of the shells. 

We had hardly arrived there when an order 
of the 56th Division commanded Schmidt to 
report sick and to leave immediately for 
Vouziers. Rogge had complained, accusing 
Schmidt of having through his incompetence 
caused our night attacks to fail. Schmidt was 
sent back, but he was looking for nothing bet- 
ter, and had several times refused to execute 
Rogge's orders. Once he had even said in my 
presence, that he had had enough of it all and 
that he only wished to be sent back to his 
family in Wiesbaden. 

Eger, who, at the beginning of the war, had 
only been a lieutenant, was appointed to fill 
Schmidt's place, as battalion chief. He im- 
mediately acted like a brute. On the first day 
of his command he ordered out the band, and 
forced the battalion to goose step, while the 
shells poured down on them. As each shell 
whizzed by, the men trembled but Eger pre- 
tended not to notice it. He shouted at them, 
saying that what they were doing was not a 



In Champagne 151 

goose step, but a regular funeral march. It 
was only too true, for all of a sudden a shell 
burst to the left, killing three men of the 8th 
Company. Those standing near by were cov- 
ered with blood and some of them were 
wounded, and fled. Nevertheless, Eger con- 
tinued the parade as though nothing had hap- 
pened, and ordered the names of the fifteen or 
twenty men who had disappeared to be noted, 
so that they might be severely punished. As 
to the three dead, Eger pronounced their fu- 
neral oration by saying to the other soldiers: 
"Take away those three pigs who didn't know 
enough to fall in battle and hurry up about it 
because our drill isn't over yet — Will you 
hurry? If you don't I'll run over you with 
my horse, and knock you all in a heap, you 
band of peasants." 

In this way Eger celebrated his promotion 
as commander of the 2nd Battalion. Six 
months later, while still in Champagne, he did 
not himself know enough to have himself killed 
by a French soldier, for a German bullet found 
his heart. 



152 The Diary of a German Soldier 

When he went into the trenches, he always 
had something to criticize. He had the soldiers 
build a little hut above his shelter "to breathe 
a little fresh air," he said. He only stayed 
there when the French were not firing. They 
destroyed his hut before two days were over. 
The following day a note was found nailed 
to one of the beams which was still stand- 
ing: "If you wish to take an airing, go into 
the trenches instead of sitting down in front 
of the dead and laughing at them. We are 
patriots, who are fighting for our country, not 
cowards." 

Eger, half mad with anger, said all these 
pigs had eaten and drunk too much and that 
he would find a way to kill every one of them. 
"This evening," he said, "I'm going to treat 
them all as they deserve." 

This was his vengeance, a regular drunk- 
ard's vengeance. Every day the companies 
got some rum. That evening he had only six 
bottles distributed to each company. The rest 
was drunk in our shelter. Eger had invited 
all the officers. Soon he and Lieutenant 



In Champagne 153 

Boettger, eighteen years old, became so in- 
toxicated that they got into an argument and 
wanted to come to blows. Boettger was 
thrown out, and left in the trench, as dead, so 
that the fresh air might revive him. Eger 
was pushed into a corner. Lieutenant Tietz 
of the 6th Company and Lieutenant Schaeffer 
of the 7th even wished to tie him, in order to 
keep him quiet. 

The German papers are full of tales of such 
rows, which are always attributed to the Rus- 
sians. But, nevertheless, they sometimes also 
occurred in our army, the effect moreover of 
rum, stolen from the soldiers. 

For several days, a rumour had been current 
that we were going to be replaced and that we 
would be sent to the Vosges or to Arras. No 
one knew just exactly what was going to hap- 
pen. Finally, on May 2nd, 1915, we were re- 
lieved by the 65th Reserve Regiment. We 
were ordered to entrain on May 3rd, for 
Somme-Py. We did not know where we 
were going but we were all happy in the 
thought of leaving this hell, where so many of 



154 The Diary of a German Soldier 

us had been killed. About six o'clock it was 
announced that Lodz had just been captured 
by the Germans. All the assembled soldiers 
yelled "HmTah!" But a storm of French 
shells fell on us and the hurrahs were replaced 
by the screams and groans of the wounded. 
There were two non-commissioned officers, 
Muller and Wolff, both of the 6th Company; 
one had his right arm shot off, the other both 
legs shattered. Both of them were expecting 
their cormnission as second lieutenants. 

In the evening of May 2nd, we left for 
Somme-Py. 



XIX 

ACROSS GERMANY AND AUSTRIA 

On May 2nd, 1915, about seven o'clock we 
reached the ruins of Somme-Py. We had 
some soup, and then got into the train which 
was waiting for us and was to leave about two 
o'clock. But first we attended to the loading 
of the baggage and the horses. It feels queer 
to travel without knowing where you're going. 
Some said we were going to Arras, because the 
men from Wurtemburg could not hold out any 
longer. Others professed to know from a re- 
liable source that we were bound for Alsace. 
Those who said nothing were the most sensible, 
for even the station officials only knew the 
name of the next station, where we were to 
stop for something to eat. Our train was run 
as far as Sedan by soldiers of the 3rd Engi- 
neers. After that, we were in the hands of 
state officials. 

156 



156 The Diary of a German Soldier 

At Sedan there was a two hours' stop. The 
station was guarded by soldiers and no one was 
allowed to go into the city. We were ordered 
to remove our chevrons and insignia because 
no one was supposed to know who we were or 
where we came from. That was an excellent 
way to confound spies. 

At ten o'clock we left Sedan and the follow- 
ing morning, at four o'clock, we passed through 
Sarrelouis, where coffee was served. The day 
before everything around us had spelled ruin 
and desolation. Today we were back in civili- 
zation, far from the war and the thunder of the 
guns. We could hardly believe our eyes. 
The ladies of the Red Cross were very sympa- 
thetic when we told them that we came from 
Champagne. The coffee was excellent and 
the soldiers drank as much as they liked of it. 
At six o'clock we rode on toward Kaiserslau- 
tern. Now we were sure that we were bound 
for Russia, either to the Carpathians or on into 
Serbia. The soldiers were delighted, for they 
knew very well that the fighting was not nearly 
so severe on the Eastern front, as it had been 



Across Germany and Austria 157 

in France. They sang and seemed suddenly 
to have forgotten all the horrors of the war. 
What seemed strangest to us was that we no 
longer heard the whizzing of shells above our 
heads. 

At eleven o'clock we arrived at Kaiserslau- 
tern, where Paymaster Herbert, Rickert and I 
were ordered to distribute provisions among 
the various companies. It all went very well 
and quickly, because everything had been pre- 
pared in advance. A meal had been prepared 
in the station restaurant for us, and you may 
be sure we did not leave a single crumb on our 
plates. 

After dinner we tooJi a little walk on the sta- 
tion platform to limber up. Many wounded 
were coming in from Argonne and the Vosges 
where they had suffered a great deal. A 
crowd had formed around one of the stretcher 
bearers. I went there and a Red Cross nurse 
told me: "It's a wounded Frenchman, who 
doesn't know any German." I drew nearer 
and spoke French to this soldier, whom I told 
that he had nothing to fear, because really it 



158 The Diary of a German Soldier 

was only the English who were hated in Ger- 
many. The man told me that in France every 
one was sure of winning the war, and of get- 
ting back Alsace and Lorraine. 

All the way from Klein- Steinheim to Hanau 
the soldiers were joyfully anticipating passing 
through our own depot. They hoped to have 
the chance to see and kiss their parents and 
their wives. All along the tracks a crowd of 
civilians had rushed up to see the 2nd Bat- 
talion go by. I don't know how they learned 
of our coming. The train proceeded very 
slowly in the midst of the hurrahs of soldiers 
and civilians. 

At the station, wounded officers of our bat- 
talion were waiting for us. Relatives and 
friends had been admitted to the platform. 
One may imagine what heartrending scenes 
took place. The meal served to the men was 
excellent — by far the best of the whole trip. 
Civilians overwhelmed us with dainties and 
presents. 

We left Hanau at eight o'clock, on May 5th. 
We passed through Chemnitz and Goerlitz. 



Across Germany and Austria 159 

In the latter place the stop was rather long, 
the station being filled with the militia so that 
no one could go out. Two of our men suc- 
ceeded in sneaking through the guard. They 
were stopped by the militia and taken to the 
station by six men with fixed bayonets. Eger 
asked them: 

*'Why did you go out?" 

"We wanted to do some shopping," they an- 
swered. 

"And you had yourselves arrested by these 
civilians." (This was Eger's term for all non- 
combatant troops.) "Aren't you ashamed to 
be in my battalion and to get yourself locked 
up by those donkeys who haven't been to war 
ataU?" 

Eger sent away the two soldiers without 
punishing them, because he hated all stay-at- 
home troops. 

The food prepared for the soldiers was not 
fit to eat. The men complained and said that 
they would raid the station kitchen if they 
weren't allowed to eat in the city. The officers 
tasted the soup and told the station-master that 



160 The Diary of a German Soldier 

it was scandalous and wicked to treat soldiers 
just back from the front in this way. 

In spite of that no one was allowed to go 
out, because we were to leave at ten o'clock. 

At Koenigshutte we had our last meal on 
German soil, and entered Austria. We passed 
through Lansashutte, Kallowitz and Magsol- 
witz. We were in Galicia. 

At Wadowicz we were served by the Aus- 
trian Red Cross ladies who were even more 
amiable than the Germans. They told us to 
lick the Russians good and plenty, so that the 
war would soon be over. 

We met a train stuffed full with Russian 
prisoners. In some coaches the sick and 
wounded were lying all in a heap on a bit of 
straw. No one bothered about them. 

On May 7th, we were at Neu Sandec and 
on the eighth, we got off at Biezc. From 
Neu Sandec to Biezc the train proceeded very 
cautiously, because the Russians had torn up 
some of the tracks during their retreat. 

In the depot at Biezc we saw huge piles of 
ammunition, machine guns and a considerable 



Across Germany and Austria 161 

amount of other material, which the Russians 
had abandoned in their retreat. Then we un- 
derstood why we had been given Russian guns. 
Biezc was in ruins. War was to begin again 
for us. 

Our trip across Germany and Austria had 
lasted five dayi§. 

The 56th Division was to assemble here and 
await orders. 

Now we knew that we were to pull the chest- 
nuts out of the fire for our dear allies, the 
Austrians, many of whom, as we shall see later 
on, did not themselves wish to fire on the 
Russians. 



XX 

IN GALICIA 

We of the staff could not take a moment's 
rest, for we had to study maps and receive 
orders. We were going to take up quarters 
at Jablonica. We went ahead to prepare 
them. Our maps were not bad, but as the 
Russians had built new roads during the war, 
we lost our way twice. People of whom we 
asked directions would not open their mouths, 
and looked as though they were making fun 
of us. Our dear allies even refused to give 
us water. The roads were wretched. We 
had to carry our bicycles, sinking up to our 
knees in sand. 

Because a battalion of the 118th Infantry 
and a hospital unit had preceded us, we could 
find no quarters for our men. It was all we 
could do to hunt out a place to house Eger 
who did not like to sleep in the open. The 

162 



In Galicia 163 

place we found for him was an unbelievably 
filthy hovel, where about ten persons, men, 
women and children, slept in a single room, all 
jumbled together in two beds filled with straw. 

A frightful, musty odour greeted us. A 
nmnber of chickens ran unmolested around the 
room. We opened doors and windows, and 
began to clean up a bit, and chased the chickens 
out. A woman brought us sheets and fresh 
straw, and sent the family away. She only 
consented to this on the condition that she 
would be well paid; but she is still waiting 
for her money. Eger made a face when he 
saw his quarters. In spite of the airing the 
smell was awful. These people were ac- 
customed to live on dung heaps, and this ex- 
plains why there were not more epidemics. 
Moreover, wherever we went in Galicia it was 
the same; the people were repulsively dirty, 
and covered with lice. 

Eger, Rickert, Loffelhardt and I had to 
sleep in this hovel. When we went in we 
found a young man and woman sleeping in 
our bed. Eger chased them out. The rest 



164 The Diary of a German Soldier 

of the family were lying on tables. Two old 
women slept on straw mattresses in front 
of the fireplaces. We could not close an eye 
all night for lack of air and because of the 
"cooties," which did not give us a moment's 
peace. On the following day we saw one of 
the women carefully inspecting the head of 
another woman. In answer to our question, 
she said she was looking for lice. We had 
obtained permanent guests during that night 
in the hovel. These new companions did not 
leave us during our entire stay on the Eastern 
front. 

At ten o'clock we left for Jaslo. The bat- 
talion's march was very fatiguing, for the men 
were continually sinking into the sand. Rick- 
ert, Loffelhardt and I, who had gone ahead 
on horseback, met the famous General Mack- 
ensen, whose quarters were about two kilo- 
metres away. All the troops along the road 
cheered him. He passed by without saying 
anything, as though he were weary of hearing 
soldiers shout. 

The Russians had blown up the great rail- 



In Galicia 165 

road bridge at the southern entrance of the 
village. The troops crossed the Wistoka over 
a pontoon bridge, built by our engineers. In 
order to proceed more rapidly we found a ford 
which our horses could cross easily enough. 

The Jaslo station was completely destroyed, 
we could not tell whether by the Russians or 
the Austrians themselves. In any case it had 
not been done by those Russians who had just 
evacuated the town about four days ago be- 
cause we could see that the work had been done 
long, long before. 

The Galicians who stayed behind did not 
speak very badly of the Russians, except the 
Jews, who told frightful tales but at the same 
time seized the opportunity to cheat us terribly 
whenever we bought anything of them. 

As the inhabitants did not understand Ger- 
man, we talked to them by means of signs. 
Rickeii; got down on all fours to show that he 
wanted a stable. 

On May 10th we rejoined the rest of the 
division. 

The 188th led, followed by the 88th Infan- 



166 The Diary of a German Soldier 

try, and the 111th and 112th Artillery; the 
35th Infantry brought up the rear. 

An Austrian regiment was marching along- 
side of us. Some of these men shouted insults 
at us in Polish. 

"Cowards !" answered our soldiers. "You've 
gotten a good hcking from the Russians, and 
now we've had to come to your help in this 
dirty country, full of lice." 

The officers forbade the men quarrelling 
with the Austrians. 

Columns of Russian prisoners were also go- 
ing along the same road. Rogge, upon seeing 
them, said to his men: "Do me the favour of 
letting those pigs carry your knapsacks, and 
you take their tobacco and cigarettes." In an 
instant the soldiers had obeyed his order. 
There were many wounded among the Russian 
prisoners. 

Everywhere the roads were in a terrible 
state, and the men, weighed down by their 
knapsacks, advanced painfully slowly, sinking 
in the sand. Eger spoke harshly to them, 
saying that they weren't making rapid enough 



In Galicia 167 

progress. He even threatened to cut down 
their rations. Howls of protest and cries of 
anger were heard among the soldiers. "Pack 
of thieves," they all yelled at once, "as it is 
we've got almost nothing to eat, because you 
take all the best stuff, and now you're shooting 
off your mouths, because you're on horseback 
and we've got to carry our knapsacks, while 
we trudge along in the sand. But one day the 
war'll be over and then we'll see who'll be the 
boss — who'll be the bravest then!" 

Eger was furious and spurred his horse on 
the men, holding his crop aloft and wounding 
one man with it. Nevertheless, and although 
they all hated him no one dared move to give 
Eger a lesson. Rogge, whom he told about 
the whole affair, approved of it and said: 
"Those pigs need a bullet in their hides, it's a 
regular mutiny. The beasts don't even de- 
serve to fall in battle." On hearing this we 
wondered who did deserve to fall in battle, 
for it was a well known fact that Rogge never 
ventured in a place where he might be under 
fire. 



168 The Diary of a German Soldier 

German newspapers reported that the Gali- 
cians had been maltreated by the Russians. 
We saw that this was absolutely false. Dur- 
ing the six months of the Russian occupation 
everything was peaceful. The fields were cul- 
tivated and everything was ready for the har- 
vest. It was the Germans, the so-called liber- 
ators, who on the contrary destroyed every- 
thing. And so the Galicians were very 
displeased that we had come to rid them of 
the Russians. Soldiers offered women rings 
and jewelry stolen in France, if they would 
give themselves up to them. Rogge himself 
ordered a good looking young woman to be 
brought to him for the night, saying: "What 
has been done by the Russians can be done 
over again by the Germans." Eger was cer- 
tainly a tyrant and a brute, but he never 
showed himself to be the coward and satyr that 
Rogge was. Such conduct only served to spur 
on the soldiers who followed women into the 
churches where they had taken refuge. The 
Galicians will never forget their liberators. 

The Jews never missed a chance to rob us 



In Galicia - 169 

and always asked exorbitant prices for the 
goods they offered. In order to trick us the 
better they began by flattering us, saying: 
"Oh, what brave and generous soldiers the 
Germans are — oh, how great and good your 
Emperor is! How happy we are that you've 
delivered us from the Russians. The whole 
world admires the Germans. ..." 

But some soldiers who wanted a certain ob- 
ject did not hesitate to take it without paying, 
if the Jews asked too big a price. In such 
cases, Eger always sided with his men. 

"You damned dirty Jews," he said to the 
merchants who complained to him, "how dare 
you cheat Prussian soldiers?" 

The Jews had the cheek to answer: 

"Captain, the Russians have robbed us so 
that we must sell our goods a little higher in 
order not to go bankrupt." 

Eger was furious, and ordered them to 
be off at once, or he would have them beaten 
by the soldiers. The children of Abraham 
departed hurriedly. Eger formally author- 
ized his soldiers to take anything they wished 



170 The Diary of a German Soldier 

without paying for it, if they thought the Jews 
were asking exorbitant prices. One can easily 
understand that the soldiers no longer re- 
frained from stealing. 



X 



XXI 

FIRST BATTLES IN GALICIA 

On June 15th, 1915, we were quartered at 
Albigowa where we were to stay two days to 
make our final preparations for going into the 
first hne trenches. 

But at 4 A. M. we were ordered to leave 
immediately for Markowa, where we would 
find the general staff of the division. 

Four hours later we found there the follow- 
ing order signed by the lieutenant general com- 
manding the 56th Division: 

"The 88th Infantry will march at the head 

of the 56th Division. No precautions must 

be neglected because the regiment is about 

to meet the enemy. I hope that the regiment 

will do its duty here as it has done it in France. 

I count absolutely on the brave and heroic 

soldiers of the 88th. This order is to be read 

to the troops." 

171 



172 The Diary of a German Soldier 

The horrors of war were to begin again for 
us. 

We left in the direction of the San and 
passed through the village of Przeworsk, where 
there were a great many wounded, for a fierce 
struggle had just taken place. 

Since most of our German horses had fallen 
owing to the heat and the bad roads, we had 
replaced them by little Russian ponies which 
were much hardier. 

In spite of the battle the inhabitants had 
chosen to remain behind. The Russians, dur- 
ing the entire time of their occupation of Gali- 
cia, had devastated nothing and had scrupu- 
lously respected persons and property. But 
we and the Austrians were now laying waste 
all the country. Dr. Meiniecke said to us : 

"It's not surprising that these people hate 
us. Just consider I The Russians did not 
touch their houses, their gardens or their fields. 
We, on the contrary, destroy everything. In 
the houses and villages from which the Rus- 
sians had just retired I did not see any trace 
of pillage as in France and Belgium. After 



First Battles in Galicia 17 S 

all these people have a right to complain about 



us." 



But Eger answered him: 

"Doctor, we're going to show these Slavish 
pigs, these lice-infested peasants, what stuff 
war is made of. We who have fought the 
Russians and French will force them to go 
down on their knees to us for a piece of bread. 
If I ask one of these brutes for a drink and 
get no response, I strike him across the face 
with my crop. I'll show them what a Prussian 
soldier is!" 

No one said a word because Eger could 
brook no contradiction. He was a real Prus- 
sian, after Kaiser Wilhelm's own heart. 

At six o'clock we were eighteen kilometres 
to the north of Jaroslav and on the banks of 
the San. The day before, the Russians had 
retreated, leaving their unburied dead behind. 
The struggle must have been desperate, and 
no mercy shown for the skulls of many of the 
dead had been smashed by musket blows. 

We crossed the San on a bridge built by 
our engineers. Hardly had we reached the 



174 The Diary of a German Soldier 

other side, when Rogge ordered us to form 
in skirmish line. That was f oohsh, for as yet 
we had no idea where the enemy was and we 
didn't even know if we were to attack him. 

Rogge assembled the officers in back of a 
little hill and addressed them as follows; 

"At last we are going to match ourselves 
against the Russians. I hope, gentlemen, 
that you will exert yourselves to the utmost, 
to spare us the shame of defeat. During the 
combat I ask you to keep in close touch with 
me, so that I can from time to time give you 
the divisional orders. Captain Eger with the 
2nd Battalion will advance against the enemy, 
about six or seven metres in front of the rest. 
The 1st Battalion will be on his right and the 
118th on his left. Captain Radke with the 
3rd Battalion will remain with me in reserve. 
Now, gentlemen, good luck to you!" 

Loffelhardt and I handed our horses to our 
orderlies and took our bicycles, in order to 
carry orders of which the soldiers were co know 
nothing. 

It was 7 P. M. We were advancing on 



First Battles in Galicia 175 

the village of Wiazownica, which we were to 
attack from the left. Hardly had we arrived 
within three metres of the village, when we- 
were greeted by machine gun fire which did 
us no harm, hoAvever, because the aim was 
very bad. Eger ordered a rest and tele- 
phoned Rogge for instructions, but got no 
answer. So he had us advance again and 
many of us were killed and wounded. See- 
ing that we would gain nothing, Eger again 
stopped our advance. I stayed with him, 
Rickert and Loff elhardt in a sand pit, to which 
some soldiers a little later brought Lieutenant 
Daucher of the 8th Company. He had a 
bullet in his abdomen and seemed to be suffer- 
ing intensely. He begged us to kill him. We 
had no means of affording him any reUef. 
He died a little while afterwards. When the 
battle was over Eger had him buried on the 
banks of the river. 

Eger, not knowing what to do, sent me with 
Loffelhardt and a first class private to Rogge, 
for instructions. Bullets whizzed all around 
us, we started to crawl, and finally landed in 



176 The Diary of a German Soldier 

the midst of the 2nd Company. They had 
been without a word from their battahon for 
four hours. A young reserve officer said 
boldly that Rogge had shown himself abso- 
lutely incapable of commanding his regiment. 
Finally we found Rogge's adjutant, Lieu- 
tenant von Stein, who, without listening to 
us, said that the orders weie to take Wiazow- 
nica at two o'clock. 

We extracted a written and signed order 
from him, because this young fellow was quite 
capable of issuing such instructions on his own 
responsibility to distinguish himself and so get 
the Iron Cross of the first class. We promptly 
returned to Eger, who immediately ordered the 
battalion to hold itself in readiness to attack. 

We advanced without a single shot being 
fired at us. A patrol that had gone ahead re- 
turned to say that the town was heavily forti- 
fied. We told Rogge of this, and he said noth- 
ing. Eger then ordered us to attack and to 
our great surprise we entered the town with- 
out a single shot being fired at us and without 



First Battles in Galicia 177 

finding a single Russian soldier there. The 
enemy had retreated. Such was the capture 
of Wiazownica which was the subject of a 
magnificent communique and which all the 
German newspapers celebrated as a great vic- 
tory of the 56th Division. The soldiers all 
laughed and made fun of us and above all of 
Rogge, who had not even yet arrived on the 
scene, so afraid and distrustful was he of the 
Russians. 

Toward ten o'clock we took possession of 
the Russian trenches, which led from the town 
to the river Lubaczawka. Hardly were we 
settled there when we were ordered to return 
to the town: every one thought that our ofii- 
cers did not know what to do, and were em- 
barrassed. Suddenly the first Russian shell 
hit us, killing about six men. As Rogge had 
announced that we would not resume our 
march for another hour we had time to bury 
our dead. 

"Give no quarter," said Eger in the speech 
that he made on this occasion; "this band of 



178 The Diary of a German Soldier 

beasts deserves no pity. If you let yourselves 
be captured you will have to work in the mines 
of Siberia, with your feet in chains." 

Punctually at one o'clock, our artillery 
opened fire. Our gunners aimed well and we 
were able to advance, pipes in our mouths and 
arms shouldered, without the slightest difficulty. 
Lieutenant Schaller, who was a forester by 
profession, advanced calmly, gun slung over 
his shoulder as if he were off for a hunt. The 
Russians were massacred in these woods by 
our shells and later we found their dead and 
wounded. It had been a veritable carnage. 

The battle was now practically won, but we 
still had to capture Radawa to prevent the 
enemy from attacking our flank. Lieutenant 
Knell, at the head of a patrol that had only 
to fire a few shots, took the town. Its only 
defenders were a few Cossacks who retreated 
at a gallop. 



XXII 
RADAWA 

Eger^ who was in command, had chosen the 
best house in the town for us. As we were 
setthng ourselves there in his absence an 
officer of the Uhlans who was adjutant of the 
35th Infantry, came in and addressing him- 
self to Loffelhardt asked us to get out and 
make room for him. Loffelhardt explained 
to him that these were Eger's quarters and 
that the latter was in command of the town. 

"Shut your damned mouth," cried the 
trooper, "you fool, a one year volunteer. You 
think I'm going to sleep in a hovel full of peas- 
ants while you lounge about this beautiful 
house? Get out; away with you, and the 
quicker the better." 

But Loffelhardt shook his head at the Uhlan 
who disappeared, furious, only to return a few 

179 



180 The Diary of a German Soldier 

moments later accompanied by an elderly 
colonel. 

*'Where is that blackguard," said he on en- 
tering, and his eyes sought Loffelhardt. I 
took a hand. "What do you want," roared 
the old colonel. I tried to explain to him 
that we had been the first to arrive and that it 
was om^ place because the battalion was 
actually in the town while the 35th had only 
reached its outskirts. 

'T see," said the colonel, "y^^ ^^^ ^ league 
with this wretch." 

Things were beginning to look serious for us 
when Eger arrived on the scene. As he never 
was afraid of anything, he explained the affair 
to the colonel, who went away leaving his 
adjutant to disentangle himself as best he 
could. Hardly had he gone when Eger, who 
did not have too much patience, said to him : 

*'What are you doing here and why did you 
make so much noise in my house? Do you 
think that you are in your stable? Get out 
of here and quickly or I'll have you put out 
by my men!" 



Radama 181 

The brave Uhlan did not dare answer Eger 
and left like a whipped dog. Eger told us 
that we should have kicked him out ourselves 
and showed him what proper treatment was. 

We had a good meal with Eger, but could 
not close an eye all night because of the cooties. 
The suffering those creatures caused us while 
we were in Galicia was perfectly incredible. 

The next day we repaii^ed to the woods 
called Radawa, leaving the town of that name 
behind. We wandered about, first to the right 
then to the left. Apparently our officers did 
not know what to do. In the evening we re- 
turned to the town for food. Then the bat- 
tahon encamped at the edge of the woods. 

During this time the 35th threw up defences 
along the Lubaczawka to prevent the Russians 
from crossing. The Lubaczawka is a little 
river that empties into the San at Monasterz. 
We were to stay in this position foi several 
days without advancing. 

On the twentieth we began to dig trenches 
in the woods. Our men cut down great quan- 
tities of trees for dug-outs. They were offi- 



182 The Diary of a German Soldier 

cially forbidden to destroy things wantonly in 
Galicia, but the truth is that the German of- 
ficers did exactly what they liked in Galicia 
and to the Galicians and all the Austrians 
in general. 

During the night of May 21st we lef^ the 
woods to occupy an excellent position between 
Radawa and Monasterz. We were well shel- 
tered there, and only about twenty metres 
from the river where the soldiers could bathe. 

Unfortunately, and it was the case during 
our entire sojourn on the Eastern front, the 
provisioning of the soldiers was badly man- 
aged, and the soldiers often complained of 
not having enough to eat. Where were the 
chickens and the good wines of France? 

Rickert, who had charge of provisioning the 
battalion, came to Eger one day and said : 

"I noticed some cattle on a farm five hun- 
dred metres from here. The owners refuse to 
sell them. How shall I get meat?" 

Eger, delighted, immediately gave orders to 
seize the cattle. Lieutenant Bortger, Loffel- 
hardt and I were ordered to accompany Rick- 



Radawa 183 

ert with several men on this very noble errand. 
We went into the backyard of the farm, where 
several women and children were gathered. 
With tears in their eyes they implored us to 
leave them their cattle which constituted their 
entire fortune. Without them, they said, they 
would surely all die of hunger. 

"What nonsense!" cried Lieutenant Bortger, 
**We'll take four cows, one for each company, 
and a fifth for the regimental staff. Come, 
men, hurry and be sure 'to choose the fattest 
ones." 

The soldiers hastened to obey, but the poor 
women fell on their cows as if they were their 
children threatened by danger. It was impos- 
sible to loosen their hold. It became a verit- 
able battle. The frightened cows ran into 
their backyard, dragging the clinging women 
along with them. The angry soldiers, en- 
couraged by us, bullied the women and kicked 
them about. 

One of the latter held her hand clasped to 
her breast, as though trying to hide something 
in her blouse. Bortger, perceiving this, com- 



184 The Diary of a German Soldier 

manded us to search her. We were scarcely 
able to make her let go of the beast, one of 
whose horns she was holding with her other 
hand. Bortger and Rickert ^ drew their re- 
volvers and threatened to kill her. 

By Lieutenant Nolte's order, he having also 
joined our expedition, the soldiers tore every 
stitch from the unfortunate woman, and there 
she stood quite naked before us all. 

Then we saw that it was a crucifix that she 
held, clasped fiercely to her breast. The sol- 
diers on seeing a naked woman let go the 
cattle and came to amuse themselves about 
the hapless creature who was crying from 
shame. Bortger and Nolte then began to spit 
on this woman's body, while Adjutant Hoff- 
man of the 8th Company and several soldiers 
closed round her and touched her with their 
dirty hands. 

It was only at the end of an interval that the 
woman was permitted to dress. 

"What say you, Nolte?" said Bortger. "It 
certainly was fimny. What a lovely picture! 

1 This Rickert had been a theological student. 



Radawa 185 

I shall never forget it. I nearly died laugh- 
ing." 

"Too bad all the soldiers were there," an- 
swered Nolte. ^'Otherwise I should have . . ." 

Bortger was to forget that scene sooner 
than he thought, as he was killed on the next 
day. May 23rd, 1915. He was buried behind 
the trenches without a single word of regret 
being spoken over his grave. At the moment 
that the body was being lowered. First Class 
Private Bender took off Bortger's leggings be- 
cause the latter owed him some money. 

On the twenty-fourth, between six and seven 
o'clock we suddenly heard the Russians "hur- 
rahing" in their trenches. Thinking that they 
were about to attack us, our artillery sent them 
a shower of shells. They still continued their 
yelling and even began to sing. We did not 
understand what was happening, when sud- 
denly the singing stopped and in the midst 
of the silence a loud voice shouted: 

"Brothers, Italy has declared war on Aus- 
tria. You had better surrender, as all resist- 
ance is henceforth useless." 



186 The Diary of a German Soldier 

This was not joyful news for the German 
soldiers. They said it was a diplomatic fail- 
ure, etc. But Eger told them to have no fear, 
because the Italians were cowards, incapable 
of serious fighting, and that soon the Austrians 
would be in Venice. To annoy the Russians, 
the men were ordered to sing "Deutchland 
Uber Alles" and ''Die Wacht Am Rhein/' 
That evening. May 23rd, was of the pleasantest 
of the war for us, as the Russians and Germans 
both sang all through it— -one from joy, the 
other out of spite. 

On the twenty-fourth. Captain Lindwurm, 
who had been slightly wounded at Lengher and 
had since succeeded in staying in hiding in 
Mayence, returned to his regiment, and being 
older than Eger, took command of the 2nd 
Battalion. The latter took command of the 
10th Company. No one regretted his de- 
parture. But his successor was one of the 
greatest cowards in the army. 

Lindwurm, who had not yet been in the 
trenches, was horribly afraid of catching the 
"cooties." He did not dare eat with us nor 



Radawa 187 

touch anything that we had handled. He al- 
ways spoke to us from a distance of live or 
six feet. He made fun of us, called us lousy 
fellows, and was ever so proud of being clean 
himself. Loffelhardt and I tried our best to 
make him catch some of the dirty little crea- 
tures but always in vain as we could not get 
near him. But at last Loffelhardt had an 
ingenious idea. We put a few of these insects 
into a match box, and during his absence put 
it, half opened, into his bed, and awaited the 
result. By the next day we knew that we 
had succeeded. Lindwurm asked us to dinner 
with him, a new and unheard of thing. 

"There is no use in isolating myself any 
longer, because some day I'll catch these fleas 
anyway," said he; "it seems to be quite in- 
evitable." It was funny to see him scratching 
first his arms, then his throat and legs all dur- 
ing the meal. "Gentlemen," said he at last, 
"I think that I have caught the damned things, 
though I don't know how it could have hap- 
pened, I've been so careful to use insect pow- 
der all the time." 



188 The Diary of a German Soldier 

Then we showed him why the powder was 
of no use at all. A flea buried under a speck 
of powder would emerge from it as fresh and 
gay as ever. After that evening we always 
dined with Lindwurm. 

We occupied this position until June 4th. 

At our left was the 98th Imperial and Royal 
Austrian Regiment. One day a soldier from 
this regiment came to our staff and asked per- 
mission to speak to the commander of the bat- 
talion about a matter of importance. Eger 
was then in command during Lindwurm's ab- 
sence. Here is what the soldier said to him. 

"Some Russian prisoners of ours told us 
that their regiments are going to attack us 
this evening in order to retake the town. 
However, all of my comrades, who are mostly 
Bohemians and Czechs, have decided to make 
no resistance but to surrender as they have had 
enough of war. The officers have also decided 
to give themselves up for they know what's 
going on although they have said nothing. 
But I am a German- Austrian from Vienna 
and I don't want to see it all end this way. 



Radanjoa 189 

That is why I come to warn you what those 
dirty Slovaks are planning to do." 

Eger immediately telephoned for reinforce- 
ments. The 92nd Bruns wicks were immedi- 
ately sent to us. Our artillery was ordered to 
fire on the Austrians if they retrec,ted. The 
92nd was to do the same. 

The Russians attacked at the hour that our 
informant had promised and as they advanced 
the Austrians began their retreat. But we 
were prepared for that very contingency. 
While Lieutenant Huck of the 5th Company 
of our regiment advanced against the Russians 
our artillery and the 92nd Brunswicks started 
shooting at the Austrians, who on finding 
themselves between two fires, began to advance 
again. 

If the Russians had been able to hold their 
town our entire battalion would have been 
captured. On the following day, the Aus- 
trians were replaced by German troops at the 
request of the commandant of our division. 
Our officers spat in disgust at the Austrians 
and the men did likewise. 



XXIII 

LAST BATTLES IN GALICIA AND 
OUR RETURN TO FRANCE 

During the night of June 3rd we aband- 
oned our position to go to a bend in the Lubac- 
zawka to the right of Radawa. On the fourth 
at eight o'clock we were to open the general 
offensive which was to put us in possession 
of the other bank of the river and drive the 
Russians out of Galicia. Everj^thing was 
ready. We had an excellent bomb thrower in 
our trenches and a captain of the 111th Ar- 
tillery who was with us to time the firing, 
thanks to his telephonic instructions (too far 
to the right, too far to the left, too near, too 
far) , helped marvellously. This bomb thrower 
was a small cannon, about the size of a German 
machine gun. The gunner aimed, pushed the 
lever and the bomb mounted into the air with 
a sort of grumbling sound. It carried in the 

190 



JLast Battles in Galicia 191 

neighbourhood of four hundred metres, and 
on bursting destroyed everything within a 
radius of about thirty metres. The explosion 
was accompanied by a cloud of heavy black 
smoke which took several moments to dis- 
appear. The Russians, demoralized by our 
artillery, surrendered themselves in a body. 
The captain told us that had we had the 
French to fight, things might have turned out 
differently for us, and that many of us would 
have fallen, as the latter were good fighters 
and knew how to defend themselves. 

Toward ten o'clock the Russians had to draw 
on their reserves. 

The 6th Company was isolated for a while 
and might easily enough have been captured. 

During the fight, Lindwurm, scared silly, 
had hidden in his dugout. When it became 
necessary for him to rejoin us, he had himself 
surrounded by six soldiers who served as a 
shield. This cowardliness did not prevent him 
from shortly becoming commander. 

A little later we had to attack in order to 
get possession of the hill in front of us and 



192 The Diary of a German Soldier 

so continue to drive back the Russians. We 
also captured the woods to the right of the 
hill. During all this time no one saw Lind- 
wurm. Rickert, Loff elhardt and I had all the 
responsibility. Without too great loss the 
battalion rapidly obtained all its objectives. 

Until June 7th we occupied the line from 
Gaydy to Zaradawa, and then we continued 
our advance. During all this time food 
reached us irregularly and in insufficient quan- 
tities. 

On the tenth we were in Dobra. The fam- 
ished soldiers began to pillage the houses. 
Lindwurm was the first to approve of this. 

On the eleventh we were the reserves in a 
wood north of Rudka. On the twelfth we 
were relieved; we then went to Rudka for our 
next orders. Our march was very painful. 
At Rudka we received bread, eggs, milk, but- 
ter and cheese. We sat down to eat without 
waiting for Lindwurm who was never about. 
He had spent the night in a hole that a child 
could hardly have crept into. Just imagine 
a man with a paunch sleeping in a cradle! 



Last Battles in Galicia 193 

Such was the spectacle that the brave Prussian 
captain presented. It was hard for us not to 
bui'st out laughing when we saw him. As the 
Russians were still retreating, we dug a suffi- 
ciently large shelter and asked Lindwurm to 
join us. But he was paralyzed with fright 
and would not move but remained where he 
was, occasionally scratching himself on account 
of the fleas. Out of pity for him we dug a 
trench between his hole arid ours so that he 
could join us without exposing himself. He 
almost wanted to kiss us and could not thank 
us enough. 

On the next day we went to Dobza. The 
Russian artillery fire was intense. Lindwurm 
commanded the sections to advance on the run, 
but far from setting the example himself he 
remained on his belly in a trench. How could 
the soldiers be brave when their commander 
was such a coward? At Dobza, he had the 
impertinence to rebuke Lieutenant Schaller 
for having exposed us all to the enemy's fire 
by crossing the open field with his company. 
Schaller answered with some irony that he had 



194 The Diary of a German Soldier 

quite forgotten to ask the Russians not to 
fire while Commander Lindwurm passed. 

At Dobza there was a Bavarian division. 
One of these regiments, the 19th Infantry, 
joined our division. On June 13th we passed 
Kawale, where a desperate battle had taken 
place two days before, apparently between 
the Russians and Bavarians. No quarter 
had been given and we found many Russians 
with throats cut and skulls smashed by blo>vs 
from the butts of rifles. The Bavarians said 
quite frankly that it was far better for all the 
Russians to die than not to have enough to 
eat. Every one knew that our own rations 
were in truth insufficient. Anyway, the Ba- 
varians made a practice of butchering their 
wounded and prisoners. A Bavarian heuten- 
ant himself said that he gave no quarter. "It 
is serious warfare, war to the knife," said he, 
"and I want to see blood flow." 

From Kawale we proceeded to Cisplice. 
We spent a bad half hour ascending a little 
hill where the Russians bombarded us heavily. 
The 7th and 8th companies had many casual- 



Liost Battles in Galicia 195 

ties and lost nearly all of theii privates. Ser- 
geant-Major Heer was wounded in the neck 
and lost his right arm. 

We were now under a general who com- 
manded a Bavarian army corps. We were 
ordered to take the village of Wolezasby. 
Lindwurm, following his usual custom, stayed 
behind with the telephone and it was up to 
us to lead the battalion. We took the village 
without very great difficulty or heavy losses. 
In the evening Rickert and I went to look 
for Lindwurm, who as I have said had been 
out of sight the entire day. When we told 
him that we were in possession of the town he 
had the audacity to say to us proudly : 

"I am happy to be in command of so noble 
a battahon and I thank you, my friends, for 
assisting me so splendidly in the execution of 
my orders." When we were alone again we 
burst out laughing. 

On entering the village we noticed a Russian 
captain at the edge of the road. He was 
wounded and apparently in agony. We went 
up to him to see whether we could do anything 



196 The Diary of a German Soldier 

for him. He had several bayonet wounds and 
had ahnost lost consciousness. As we raised 
his head he opened his eyes and said : 

"Away with you, assassins! Why do your 
men commit such awful crimes? I was no 
longer an enemy when I surrendered with 
my company. Unarmed, we were all mas- 
sacred. At least blow out my brains so that 
I may no longer suffer." We called the 
nurses and left him. Afterwards the nurses 
told us that they had ended his sufferings as 
it had been impossible to move him. In any 
event we knew that he had spoken the truth 
because we saw the Russian muskets piled up 
fifty metres behind the place where we had 
found him and his butchered men. 

We occupied the Russian trenches until 
June 19th. Our staff was magnificently in- 
stalled in a church where we had had fresh 
straw brought. A telephone installed in the 
sacristy enabled us to keep informed of all that 
happened in the trenches. 

On June 20th we were ordered to seize 
the village of Dornach^ scarcely fifteen kilo- 



Last Battles in Galicia 197 

metres from the Russian frontier. Lindwurm 
made a wry face on hearing this ; he told us that 
it was very easy for those gentlemen in the 
rear, well protected as they were, to give like 
orders. 

*'Captain," we said to him, *Vhy do you not 
have yourself placed on the general's staff? 
Haven't you proved that you can direct a battle 
lying hidden in a wheatfield? You've been an 
adjutant for twelve years and know quite 
as much as a colonel." 

Lindwurm answered, shrugging his shoul- 
ders : "I've tried everything. But it's no use ; 
they don't want me." 

The taking of Dornach was easier than we 
had thought. We found many dead there, 
besides dying horses and a lot of damaged 
material. One man had had his chest run 
through by a wagon pole. We also found 
three Russian soldiers killed by bayonet 
thrusts and stripped naked. Even their boots 
had been carried off. The inhabitants of the 
village had fled and numbers of fright- 
ened cattle were running all over the place. 



198 The Diary of a German Soldier 

Rickert seized eight calves and had them killed 
for our battalion (just the members of the 
staff) . Dirrig, our cook, was delighted. The 
extraordinary thing was that we ate the eight 
calves in two days. There were only about 
fourteen of us, including the cook and the or- 
derlies. It is true that we kept eating it all 
day long and without bread and that it was a 
long time since we had had anything so de- 
licious. But still I never would have believed 
that one could eat so much meat. 

On June 22nd the rumour was about that 
we would soon be replaced by a division of the 
11th Army Corps. That very same evening 
indeed, we were relieved by the 44th Brigade 
of this corps. We left for Cewkaw, then for 
Oleszyu, where we were quartered. The city 
was full of Jews who sold vodka, an alcoholic 
beverage so strong that all the soldiers became 
drunk. 

On the twenty-fourth we reached Polank, 
which had been almost completely destroyed 
by the Germans. Rogge installed himself in 
a house that happened not to have been dam- 



Last Battles in Galicia 199 

aged, putting its inmates, including an old 
woman who was ill and in her bed, into the 
street. In the evening he had the regiment's 
band play. 

On the twenty-sixth we went to Jaraslaw 
where we were to entrain to be killed else- 
where. We changed all of our wagons, but 
kept our little Russian ponies, which we were 
to take to France. For it was to France 
that we were returning after two months' ab- 
sence. Our train went through Lancut and 
Cracow where we were given food. At last, 
on a Sunday, at five o'clock we reached the 
German frontier of Poland. A disinfecting 
plant had been put up so that we could at last 
get rid of our vermin. Everything had to 
pass through this establishment: men, horses, 
wagons, even the kitchens. 

Each man made separate packages of his 
cloth and of his leather clothing. These pack- 
ages were numbered for identification and 
handed in to be returned to us later. There 
we stood in our shirts. Then they took us to 
tanks in which we plunged into hot water up to 



200 The Diary of a German Soldier 

our necks. We soaped and scrubbed one an- 
other with a special soap which killed the lice 
and their eggs. Only then could we realize 
the damage these dirty little beasts had done. 
Some of the men's bodies looked like open 
sores. Then we had cold showers, and each of 
us got a fresh shirt and a pair of drawers and 
socks. These had been requisitioned in France 
and Belgium. They were of every imaginable 
colour: one man wore a pair of blue drawers, 
a red shirt and yellow socks; another had on 
a pink shirt, green drawers and black or white 
socks. In this outfit we went into a room 
where a meal was served us. It looked more 
like a masquerade than war and all the soldiers 
were very gay. Then we received back our 
clothes and leather garments which had all 
been submitted to a high temperature in a 
special furnace. Naturally they were in a 
frightful condition, but we were happy to be 
rid of our vermin. 



XXIV 
HERIN 

Our journey from Galicia to France lasted 
five days. July 1st, 1915, we reached Brussels 
where we stayed for several hours. When we 
were crossing Germany the people had cheered 
us everywhere, but here no one noticed us. 

July 2nd we were at Valenciennes, four 
kilometres from the town. Our battalion 
was quartered at Herin, where we rested 
for quite a while from the effects of the cam- 
paign in Galicia. Lindwurm and Rickert 
were lodged in a castle. Loffelhardt and I 
found a place for ourselves in a small house 
where a woman and two children lived. All 
the 7th and 8th Companies were billeted, the 
5th and 6th were quartered in the big brewer- 
ies (those of Sauvage and Giran). The men 
behaved themselves well and there were no 
complaints. 

201 



202 The Diary of a German Soldier 

The entire 56th Division was at Valen- 
ciennes and in the vicinity. The staff -office 
of the division was at Saint- Saulve with a 
motorcycle company. The staff -office of the 
regiment and of the 3rd Battalion was at 
Valenciennes itself. A company of machine 
guns was encamped between Herin and Aubry 
continually on the watch for French and Eng- 
lish aviators flying over the town. The 
111th Artillery Corps with its ammunition 
train was at Aubry. All the cannon had been 
sent to Douai where there was a huge repair 
shop. 

We had few duties, for the division was 
there to recuperate. On +he ninth our gen- 
eral held a big review and distributed the 
decorations awarded by Emperor Francis 
Joseph to our soldiers who had fought in 
Galicia. Lindwurm was decorated by the 
general who congratulated him on his excel- 
lent leadership in Austria. 

The soldiers grumbled and Sansler, a non- 
commissioned officer of the 6th Company, said, 
in a loud voice, "We — we are the ones who 



Herin 203 

did the fighting, we carry the scars of battle, 
but the cowards are decorated!" 

After the review Lindwurm had Sansler 
brought to him and asked him how he could 
talk that way. Sansler replied that he had 
refused to be a reserve officer, that he had 
fought at Roye, at Champagne and in Galicia 
and that he had been wounded twice, but he 
had received no decorations. Two days later 
Sansler was made a sergeant-major and im- 
mediately received the Iron Cross which he 
put in his pocket. He did not care to wear 
it *'like a coachman," he said. 

On July 10th, our brave Rogge was made a 
lieutenant-colonel and Nolte received the Iron 
Cross of the first class. Everybody hoped that 
Rogge would be transferred to another regi- 
ment where he would be made a colonel. 

On the eleventh an order was issued allow- 
ing fifty soldiers from each company leave of 
absence. At this news everybody was happy 
and all the suffering and injustices were for- 
gotten. I had my leave and was preparing 
to start off at seven o'clock to see my mother 



204 The Diary of a German Soldier 

when I got an order to report to headquarters 
at Valenciennes to act as interpreter. All my 
eiforts to go into Germany were futile, and 
Lindwurm in tearing up my leave, said, "After 
all aren't you in your own country just the 
same, since you said while you were studying 
to be a reserve officer, that those who have once 
lived in France wish to remain there always?" 
It was true, and it was this very fact that had 
prevented my being made a reserve officer. 

What answer could I make to this coward 
who owed so much to Loffelhardt and me? 



XXV 

HEADQUARTERS AT 
VALENCIENNES 

In July, 1915, military headquarters at 
Valenciennes were installed in the town hall. 
The mayor was authorized to keep several 
small rooms for himself and his assistants. 
The Germans turned the court house, where 
the water and fire departments had been lo- 
cated before the war, into a storehouse for 
revolvers, guns, munitions, bicycles, harness 
and other articles which they had confiscated. 
On the second floor was a civil prison and one 
for German soldiers. 

In charge of headquarters was Lieutenant 
Colonel Spiers, who was a member of one of 
the Uhlan regiments of the 13th Ai^my Corps. 
His adjutant who represented him when 
necessary was Captain Kolb. Reserve Lieu- 
tenant Korneman, a coffee salesman in civil 

205 



206 The Diary of a German Soldier 

life, was also connected with headquarters. 
The court martial was composed of the Im- 
perial Adviser Dr. Wunder (an attorney 
at Karlsruhe in civil life). Dr. Lewin, who 
represented him when necessary, and Sergeant- 
Major Sohn, interpreter and secretary. The 
last named was not always present for they 
distrusted him; but they were afraid to get 
rid of him because of the many secrets he knew 
which he might disclose to avenge himself. 

In the right wing was the office where the 
French and Belgians who had charge of the 
food supply of the civilians received their pass- 
ports. 

The Food Commission was composed of a 
captain in the reserves, a lieutenant of the 
landwehr, several Americans, and a certain 
number of French citizens. Among the last 
I commend M. Dreyfus who did his best for 
his people and his country. 

During the little while that I stayed at Val- 
enciennes — that is to say until the 56th Di- 
vision left for the front — I learned and I saw 
some very interesting things concerning the 



Headquarters at Valenciennes 207 

regulations which the captured peoples were 
subjected to in this conquered village. 

The civilians were allowed to be about 
the streets, frequent the cafes and restaurants 
and the public buildings from six o'clock in the 
morning till eight o'clock at night. The stores 
and the cafes were open from eight o'clock in 
the morning till seven o'clock at night. 

Soldiers were quartered in almost every 
house. 

The band of the 88th played every day in 
front of headquarters from twelve until one. 
On the door of the town hall hung the imperial 
flag of Germany and the royal flag of Bavaria. 
On a large shield were the words : 

ETAPPEN KOMMANDATUR 

During the day there was considerable traf- 
fic in the streets. 

A German canteen sold only to German 
soldiers. 

The officers and the men of these troops on 
the staff lived a great deal better than they 
did in Germany. 



208 The Diary of a German Soldier 

In addition to their salary or advanced pay, 
the commander received an indemnity paid 
by the town of thirty-five francs per day; 
the other officers received ten francs a day; 
the sergeant-majors six francs and the non- 
commissioned officers and soldiers four francs. 
Over and above this they enjoyed free lodging 
in the hotels for which they paid in four-franc 
checks issued by the town. In theory the in- 
demnity was levied for food because their 
duties hindered them from eating as usual or 
at mess. But in reality everybody ate where 
it cost him nothing and pocketed the indem- 
nity. They all ate at the Saint- Vincent bar- 
racks in Rue de Lille. Briefly one can say 
that the troops on the staff were maintained 
at the expense of the population. 

Up to the present time the war had lasted 
for more than a year and everything that we 
had had been stolen; the requisitions always 
were excessive. We took everything that 
could have the least possible value. All the 
bicycles for example had been sent to Germany 
but we kept on finding more every day. 



Headquarters at Valenciennes 209 

The mines and the factories at Anzin were 
operated by the Germans. Many civilians 
were forced to work in the mines at a pitiful 
wage. The fields were cultivated by their 
owners or by the peasants but the German 
government requisitioned all the crops and left 
to the owners barely enough to supply them- 
selves with absolutely necessary food and with 
seed for planting the following spring. The 
grain was sent to a large mill at Valenciennes 
under the direction of a non-commissioned of- 
ficer. The needs of the army were supplied 
and the surplus sent into Germany. 

Many difficulties could have been avoided 
by the civilians if they had remained on good 
terms among themselves. But they often did 
not agree and complained of one another. 

Fines were payable in German money and 
since the town had only paper money, the 
people were obliged to go to a money changer ; 
this was very expensive. 

The police at headquarters were veritable 
brutes, especially one called Ruff. 

My duties were to act as interpreter for the 



210 The Diary of a German Soldier 

court martial, especially for Dr. Wunder, and 
to requisition throughout the town and its vi- 
cinity, motors, and certain implements, ma- 
chines and tools for harvesting. It was thus 
that I frequently had an opportunity to com- 
municate with the French awaiting court mar- 
tial. The majority of the detained civil pris- 
oners were charged with smuggling either let- 
ters or goods from France into Belgium or 
vice versa. 

Thus a chma manufacturer from Saint- 
Amand who often came to Valenciennes with a 
permit was arrested and accused of being an 
agent for smuggling letters between France 
and Belgium. 

When arrested, they found no evidence on 
him and he swore that he was innocent. 
Nevertheless, he was fined five hundred marks 
and forbidden to leave Saint- Amand where his 
factory was. 

Another curious affair was that oi M 

and L . A certain M , a Belgian 

but a resident of Valenciennes, was arrested 
and accused of selling French newspapers 



Headquarters at Valenciennes 211 

which came from Holland through Belgimn. 
Here is the way this little game was played: 
some civilian members of the Food Com- 
mission were ordered to report at the Dutch 
frontier to purchase provisions. There the 
Dutch easily gave them some French news- 
papers. L , editor of the Gazette de Val- 

encienneSy sold these papers at fifteen francs 

apiece to M who lent them to the people 

for three to five francs an hour. When his 
customers had read them, he sold them at 
Douai. When he was arrested they found at 
his house several verses making fun of the 
Kaiser; this was another offence. During the 
prosecution Sergeant-Ma j or Sohn never 

stopped annoying Mme. M , who was very 

pretty, with his attentions, assuring her that if 
she would be agreeable he would do all he 

could to help her husband. L and M 

were fined one thousand marks each for selling 

French papers. M went to prison for 

three months for his verses about Wilhelm II. 
The mayor of Marly, M. Druy, was im- 
prisoned for travelling to France by way of 



212 The Diary of a German Soldier 

Holland and England to see his son who was 
at Brest. He had then returned. This trip 
was possible, for there was in France and Bel- 
gium a secret organization for people whp 
wished to escape. Everything was ready so 
that the fugitives could cross the electrically 
charged barrier; they did this by means of a 
double ladder. Naturally that was rather ex- 
pensive. Sometimes also the sentry was bribed. 
M. Dreyfus, member of the Food Commission 
of Valenciennes, thus provided for the escape 
of fifteen hundred young men. He was sen- 
tenced to three years at hard labour, about the 
same time that Miss Edith Cavell was con- 
demned. As for the mayor of Marly, I don't 
know what his sentence was since I left Val- 
enciennes before his trial. 

Two women who struck some policemen 
were fined one thousand marks each and sen- 
tenced to three months in jail. 

In the prison at headquarters there were 
quite a number of German soldiers awaiting 
court martial for overstaying their leave or 
for being absent without leave. There were 



Headquarters at Valenciennes 213 

some also who had refused to obey orders and 
had said things against their officers. If their 
former conduct had been good, they were pun- 
ished hghtly, but they were always sent to the 
front line trenches and the actual infliction 
of their punishment suspended until the end of 
the war. If they behaved themselves they 
would then be pardoned. One wonders if 
many soldiers did not commit offences pur- 
posely so that they would be sentenced, hoping 
in this way to escape the war. 

When Prussians and Bavarians were in the 
same locality, there would often be quarrels. 
In August, 1915, there was a veritable battle 
at Douai between the troops of these two coun- 
tries; eight officers were killed and a great 
many men; there were also many wounded. 
Four hundred men were sentenced by the court 
martial at Lille to from one to twelve years in 
prison at hard labour. This affair was never 
mentioned by the German press. 

Every Tuesday a trainload of soldiers, con- 
victed citizens and persons sentenced to depor- 
tation, left for Germany. A great many in- 



214 The Diary of a German Soldier 

habitants were deported without having been 
tried, — simply by administrative act. 

Every one at headquarters from Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Spiers down to the police had had 
quantities of shoes made for themselves from 
leather requisitioned for the needs of the army. 
They sent these shoes into Germany. Dr. 
Wunder ordered the non-commissioned officers 
to act cautiously so that this trick should not 
be discovered and he himself would mark the 
cases "Soiled Clothes'' with the headquarters 
seal. 

The following, however, is by all odds the 
most interesting story I can tell of my ex- 
periences in Valenciennes: 

At the automobile station at Valenciennes, 
there was a boy, from a Munich family, who 
was a chauffeur and who, although he had not 
done his year's service as a volunteer, went 
about with the officers: a young slacker of 
high birth. This young fellow who passed his 
time agreeably behind the lines had noticed 
a very pretty girl, about eighteen years old. 
Her mother kept an inn between Marly and 



Headquarters at Valenciennes 215 

Saultain. The young chauffeur often came to 
the inn, always ordering the costhest wines 
and brandies, and trying in all kinds of ways 
to enter upon friendly relations with the girl. 
But the latter had such a violent dislike to 
him that she always left the room as soon as he 
entered it. Not to be discouraged, he followed 
her several times into the street but she always 
found a way to evade him. One day she 
met him in the market at Valenciennes. He 
had a scheme, and coming up to her orders 
her to follow him immediately. The young 
girl, very much frightened, follows him obe- 
diently, for as soon as a German soldier tells 
a civilian that he arrests him, the latter must 
follow without protest, even though he might 
later, after examination, be set free. The 
chauffeur leads the young girl to his house, 
pushes her into his room, turns the key and 
goes out again to perform his duties. At 
night he comes home to find his prisoner. A 
little while later he goes out again and gives 
himself up at headquarters where he says that 
he has just accidentally killed a young French 



216 The Diary of a German Soldier 

girl. They find the body of the young girl 
in his room; she had been shot through the 
forehead. 

The chauffeur's story— absurd — is as fol- 
lows: 

The young girl had consented to give her- 
self to him. As he was undressing, his re- 
volver which he was in the habit of placing 
every night on the table next to his bed, went 
off accidentally and killed her. 

The girl's parents accused the chauffeur of 
murdering their daughter whom he had en- 
trapped because she had refused to give herself 
up to him. The medical examination showed 
that the girl had not been outraged. 

The man was condemned to six months' im- 
prisonment for arbitrarily imprisoning a per- 
son. The apparent fact of murder was over- 
looked. As he had spent five months in prison 
before his court martial, he was released a few 
weeks afterwards. 

On hearing this wicked judgment pro- 
nounced, the girl's father protested violently, 
saying that the Germans were acquitting the 



Headquarters at Valenciennes 217 

murderer of his daughter, that there was no 
such thing as German justice, etc. The poor 
man was immediately arrested and a few days 
later deported to Germany. 

The old woman in mourning is now all alone 
in the inn on the Marly road grieving for her 
husband and daughter. This story was con- 
firmed to me by Sergeant-Major Sohn who 
was at the trial. The entire headquarters 
staff, one and all, confirmed it. The murder 
and sentence made a deep impression on all the 
village but could not possibly cause more 
hatred than already existed for everything 
German. 

My stay at Valenciennes ended on Septem- 
ber 20th. That day I was ordered to report 
at Saverne, in Alsace, where my regiment was 
located. 



XXVI 

THE BATTLE OF CHAMPAGNE 

(September, 1915) 

On September 11th, I arrived at Saverne 
(Alsace), where my battalion was quartered. 
I was going to board with my friend Loffel- 
hardt who lived with an Alsatian woman 
whose husband was a lieutenant in the re- 
serves at the front. This woman told us 
that all citizens of Saverne (she spoke of the 
Alsatians) were positive that the war would 
give them back to France. All the Alsatians 
hated the Prussians cordially, especially since 
the Renter and Forsner affair and had but 
one desire — to become French citizens once 
again. After dinner we took a walk through 
the town and talked with a few of the inhabit- 
ants. They all spoke French and pretended 
not to understand German. All of them told 

218 



The Battle of Champagne 219 

us that after the war Alsace would again be- 
come French. They complained a good deal 
of the severe German administration which 
treated them hke the French and Belgians of 
the invaded districts. 

We were expecting to spend a little more 
time at Saverne when we were suddenly or- 
dered to leave immediately for Champagne 
where the French were making a big offensive. 

We broke camp that night in a disorder and 
haste that cannot be described. Many men 
took this occasion to desert. They were court- 
martialled later. 

On the twenty-fourth at six o'clock in the 
morning we left for Savigny by way of Sar- 
reguemines, Thionville, Longuyon and Vou- 
ziers. The train made very good time and we 
hardly stopped long enough at Longuyon to 
eat. Automobiles were awaiting at Savigny 
to carr}^ us to the front in great haste. The 
road from Savigny to Sechault resembled the 
great boulevards of Paris, there was so much 
traffic. We could already hear the roaring of 
the guns and soon we passed the artillery posi- 



220 The Diary of a German Soldier 

tions at high speed. Never have I seen so 
many cannon so close to each other. We all 
understood that the French armies were mak- 
ing a huge effort to pierce the German line. 

Before arriving at Sechault our automobiles 
had to slow down, so badly was the road en- 
cumbered. The French shells began falUng 
in this region and of course did considerable 
damage. 

For the first time we heard the terrifying 
noise of the aerial bombs. All the soldiers of 
the battalion, so happy only two days before, 
were now sad and discouraged for they believed 
they were going to their death. 

At Sechault we left our automobiles and 
reached Ripont by a forced march. We were 
at the identical spot near the famous "Devil's 
Hole" where we had suffered so during May, 
1915. The ground cut up by numerous shell 
holes was covered with carcasses of men and 
horses. 

At Ripont we waited till night before going 
into our trenches. During the journey we had 
suffered several losses. Reserve Lieutenant 



The Battle of Champagne 221 

Abraham had been killed and all of us felt that 
we would never return from that hell alive. 

We finally took possession of our trenches. 
They had been half destroyed by the French 
artillery and we had to get to work imme- 
diately right under the enemy's infernal fire, 
to put them in condition. 

At daybreak the French attacked us after a 
terrific bombardment which had lasted three 
hours. If the French had not attacked so soon 
our positions would certainly have been wiped 
out. However, they were a little prematm^e 
and the first of them to come at us were shot 
down or captured. The fire was fierce; we 
sheltered ourselves behind piles of corpses and 
we looked around us like madmen thinking our 
last hour had come. Never expecting to come 
out alive, we prayed for death to finish us off 
once and for all. We were not exactly ner- 
vous but we were dully resigned to the inevi- 
table. The soldiers acted mechanically. We 
gazed stupidly at our comrades who fell beside 
us and we lay quietly down beside them as if 
we did not understand. 



222 The Diary of a German Soldier 

Naturally our brave battalion chief, Lind- 
wurm, had, in accordance with his noble habit, 
preferred not to go into the trenches. He hid 
himself in a cave between Ripont and Grat- 
reuil, and all of the responsibility of leading 
the battahon fell upon Rickert, Loffelhardt 
and myself. Greatly annoyed, we asked First 
Lieutenant Zietz, commander of the 6th Com- 
pany, if he would take command of the bat- 
talion. He told us that he was not able to 
take such a responsibility upon himself, that 
he was not in action and that he had had 
enough, and that he would be delighted when 
this dirty business which consisted of killing 
and of being killed would be over. Then we 
found Lieutenant Dehes, who was on active 
service. He said he preferred to die at the 
head of his company and that he would carry 
out all the orders he received from us. 

On September 26th hell was let loose. The 
artillery fire reached the height of violence, the 
earth trembled and many soldiers lost their 
minds, becoming living corpses. To stay in an 
underground shelter was to expose yourself to 



The Battle of Champagne 223 

being buried alive. The men wandered like 
mad through the trenches seeking shelter from 
death. All at once the French broke through 
on our right. Passing by our position, which 
could offer no resistance, and piercing our rear 
on the run they completely surprised our sec- 
ond line. The French continued doggedly to- 
ward Ripont. A few minutes later we saw 
their cavalry advance. Instinctively, our men 
began firing at this living target and a number 
of French troopers fell victims of their brav- 
ery. The frightened horses bounded at a 
gallop over the dead and wounded. Some 
dragged their riders along with them. Our 
artillery had immediately concentrated its fire 
on the French cavalry without concerning 
themselves about us, so that we were obliged to 
abandon our lines on the run, lest every man 
of us be killed by our own guns. We did not 
know where we were or what we were to do. 
We were surrounded on all sides by the 
French. Furthermore, it was impossible for 
us to surrender, as the German artillery swept 
the position, which wais; as untenable for the 



224 The Diary of a German Soldier 

French as for us. At last we arrived at the 
second line without knowing what we were 
doing. There we found heaps of dead and 
wounded Germans and several crazy soldiers, 
who were singing and laughing at the uproar. 
All the rest had been thrown into confusion by 
the French, who had taken Ripont and passing 
that place had pushed forward. 

These brave men had to stop before a ravine 
between Ripont and Gratreuil, where the Ger- 
man reserves, waiting for them, opened fire 
on them. But in their dash, they would 
probably have overcome this new obstacle if 
unfortunately they had not found themselves 
just at this critical moment within the range of 
their own guns. There was nothing left for 
them to do but to surrender. Many of our 
soldiers told me afterwards that they were 
sorry for this for if it had not happened they 
themselves would have had a chance to sur- 
render to the French and so be finished with 
the war. 

Rickert asked Loffelhardt if we could not 
take advantage of this and retake our front 



The Battle of Champagne 225 

line. All our companies except the 5th, com- 
manded by Dehes, had lost their officers. 
There only remained as leaders in all the ten 
battahons, Dehes, Rickert, Loffelhardt and I. 
We told Dehes to attack and we retook our 
front line, where we found only a few French 
soldiers, who surrendered, but were instantly 
killed at Dehes' orders, for the excitement was 
so great that no one showed any mercy. Dehes 
received the Iron Cross, first class, for this 
brave deed. After all it was only our 5th 
Company which advanced. The others re- 
fused on the pretext that they had no officers. 
Lieutenant Zietz was killed and his orderly, on 
his knees before him for half an hour, kept 
begging him to get up. The poor boy had 
gone mad. 

Back in our first position we were able 
to get an idea of the awful massacre which had 
taken place. We literally walked over piles 
of dead and wounded, French and German 
mixed promiscuously. Cries, groans, the death 
rattle, veritable shrieks of pain arose from this 
field of slaughter. For a moment I thought I 



226 The Diary of a German Soldier 

was going mad like all the rest, for my mind 
seemed to ramble and my senses were be- 
numbed. A great many men had become 
stone deaf and remained sitting on the ground, 
oblivious of everything. If you spoke to them 
they just stared at you with a stupid expres- 
sion. 

Naturally, on this day there had been no dis- 
tribution of rations and we found our food by 
searching through the packs of the dead. The 
men preferred to search the French, who had 
white bread, boxes of sardines, chocolate and 
coffee in their canteens, but no spirits. Luck- 
ily, the canteens of the German dead were full 
of rum. Sitting in our ruined trenches we ate 
and drank mechanically, thinking of nothing 
and without bothering about the battle which 
was still raging on our right towards Somme- 
Py, where it must have been frightful, for the 
shells burst by the thousand, darkening the sky 
with a huge cloud of black smoke. The 
ground trembled as if there was an earthquake. 

At last on September 28th there was a com- 



The Battle of Champagne 227 

parative lull and we were relieved in the middle 
of the night. 

Thus ended as far as I was concerned, that 
horrible Battle of Champagne, through which 
I did not expect to live. 

On the twenty-ninth, we bivouacked at camp 
Number Three, between Gratreuil and Ripont. 
Who had taken our places in the front line? 
We never knew, everything happened so rap- 
idly, and the soldiers had taken off their epau- 
lets, on which were the numbers of their regi- 
ments. 

We were now able to count our losses. 
They were terrible. We lost more than two 
thirds of our force. Only three hundred of us 
remained in a battalion which, completely re- 
organized before we left Saverne, had counted 
a thousand men at that time. 

Our battalion chief, Captain Lindwurm, 
who, as I have related, had refrained from tak- 
ing command during the battle and had left 
us to our own resources, had the effrontery to 
assemble us and to speak to us in this manner : 



228 The Diary of a German Soldier 

"Dear comrades, I thank you for your 
courage and for your heroism. You bravely 
retook the positions captured by the enemy. I 
am proud to be your leader. You have obeyed 
all mv orders and have covered the 2nd Bat- 
talion with glory." 

Such words as these were quite incredible, 
coming from such a coward as he who, now that 
danger was over, acted as if he had saved 
the German Empire. Janecke, a first class 
private, at headquarters told Rickert and me 
what Lindwurm had done during the fight. 
On September 25th, Lieutenant-Colonel 
Rogge, through a non-conmiissioned officer, 
Zentgroff of the headquarters company, or- 
dered Lindwurm to report immediately to him. 
Lindwurm promised to come, but didn't and 
instead hid himself in a dug-out at Ardeuil. 
The next day Rogge came himself to fijid him 
and said to him : 

"Captain, I am sorry to have to tell you that 
I have proved that the officers of your battalion 
do not do their duty and do not obey the orders 
of their superiors. Before you, an officer of 



The Battle of Champagne 229 

this company disobeyed my orders and I had 
to complain about him" (he was speaking of 
Schmidt), "and yet he was not a coward. 
You, you seem to be afflicted with the same 
disease. I want you to note that I hold you 
responsible if the discipline of your company 
does not come up to what is expected and de- 
manded of Prussian troops. I command you 
for the last time to rejoin your battalion and to 
lead it." 

Lindwurm started out with First-Class Pri- 
vate Bastian, but he stopped at Sechault and 
Bastian reached us by himself. He trans- 
ferred the orders signed by Lindwurm to us 
and warned us that all communications with 
the regiment would have to be sent to Lind- 
wurm first for his signature. 

All this did not prevent Lindwurm's taking 
command a few days later. He made us an- 
other speech at this time in which he had the 
nerve to speak of the awful battle of Cham- 
pagne, which he would never forget. What 
he has certainly not forgotten was the fright 
he had had. 



230 The Diary of a German Soldier 

On October 8th we returned to the trenches 
with new recruits which made up for our 
losses and enabled us to reform our units. 
Seeing these new mfen one would think that 
Germany was at the end of her man power, 
for there were boys scarcely eighteen years old 
and grey haired men from forty to forty-five. 
Amongst them there were even cripples, the 
lame and some poor devils who had already lost 
a leg or an arm and were being sent to the front 
just the same. 

On October 4ith, General von Einem, in his 
order of the day, thanked us for our bravery. 
This order ought to have been read to the sol- 
diers, but Lindwurm thought that unnecessary. 

"Those whom it would interest," he said, 
"are dead, wounded or missing; those who are 
left have not enough sense to understand it. 
As to the new recruits, it is none of their busi- 



ness." 



XXVII 
DOUAI— IN CHAMPAGNE 

On November 6th we left our Champagne 
trenches for the last time and started towards 
Arras. On the ninth we arrived at Mouchy 
and on the tenth we were before Arras, where 
we stayed as reserves. 

Our men were quartered on the citizens. 
We were forbidden to have anything to do with 
the Bavarian soldiers, so as to avoid quarrels 
and disputes. We were also forbidden to hold 
communication with the natives, for it seemed 
that most of the allied spies were at Douai and 
Lille. This order did not, however, prevent 
monsieurs the officers from running after the 
women and trying by every means — almost al- 
ways by force — to find mistresses. I can men- 
tion for example an awful scandal about our 
own battalion chief, the heroic Lindwurm. 

231 



232 The Diary of a German Soldier 

He boarded with a respectable woman who 
lived alone with her daughter, a girl about 
twenty-four years old. 

Lindwurm decided to become this young 
girl's lover and he told us of his intention. 
Rickert, who was a theological student in civil- 
ian life, gave him a good lecture and told him 
he was not conducting himself as a gentleman 
should. But the fine Lindwurm would not 
listen to him and straightway entered the young 
girl's bedroom. The latter told him that 
Monsieur the Commander must have made a 
mistake and that he was in a young woman's 
bedroom. 

"My dear young lady," answered Lind- 
wurm gallantly, "believe what you want but let 
me tell you that I have decided that you are 
going to be my mistress. Also please take 
note that all resistance will be futile. If you 
do not consent I will have you deported to 
Germany." 

Rickert and I, who were in the hall, could 
hear everything until Lindwurm closed the 
door. 



Douai — in Champagne 233 

Rickert, disgusted, went to Lieutenant- 
Colonel Rogge's headquarters and asked to be 
relieved from duty as adjutant of the 3rd 
Battahon. Rogge demanded an explanation 
and Rickert told him about Lindwurm's be- 
haviour. 

"Don't get so hot, my friend," answered 
Rogge. *' These little affairs happen in the 
best society, you know. Don't get excited. 
If every one had your scruples it would have 
been better for Germany never to have gone to 
war. Maybe you are a little jealous, my dear 
Rickert, but there are so many women in the 
streets that assuredly you can find some one to 
your liking." 

Meanwhile, Lindwurm ordered all kinds of 
food taken to the old lady's house, chiefly dain- 
ties, old wines and liquors. When we returned 
he said: 

"Gentlemen, I am your commander and 
the master of this house. I ordered these pro- 
visions and I invite you — no, I order you to 
help celebrate tonight my marriage with this 
young girl." 



234 The Diary of a German Soldier 

A few minutes later, I found myself alone 
with the girl who, weeping, said to me: 

"He threatened to have me deported to Ger- 
many like all the rest. What would happen 
to my poor mother if she were left alone here." 

Before dinner we again remonstrated with 
Lindwurm for uselessly making two women 
imhappy. But he answered: 

"You go to the devil. That's the custom of 
the staff and I intend to follow it." 

Loffelhardt, who sometimes spoke frankly, 
was indignant and did not hesitate to answer 
him roughly : 

"Sir, if everything went according to cus- 
tom, how are there the many slackers and 
cowards at the front, that these gentlemen and 
I are well acquainted with?" 

Lindwurm paled but did not answer. 

The bridal dinner was funereal; no one ate 
and no one knew how to act. The two poor 
women could hardly keep from crying and 
Lindwurm, crestfallen, did not know what to 
say and realized what a ridiculous and beastly 
part he was playing in this very sad comedy. 



Douai — in Champagne 235 

The atmosphere became so strained that he 
could not maintain his position. At dessert 
he spoke to Rickert and said he was sorry for 
all this childishness and he begged the ladies to 
forget it all. We all congratulatedihim on his 
virtuous resolution. 

On November 23rd we returned to Cham- 
pagne for the third time. There was now a 
relative lull on this front in comparison with 
the horrible battle of September and we were 
not so miserable. We occupied the same posi- 
tions as before. 

During our absence the engineers had stub- 
bornly laboured at burying mines which were 
to explode under the French trenches. Our 
battalion was chosen to attack right after the 
explosion of one of these mines during the 
night of December 4th and 5th, 1916, at 
exactly half -past eleven o'clock. At the given 
time, a frightful report resounded and in 
front of us we saw a huge red flame suddenly 
cover the whole sky and rise upward in the 
midst of an eruption of earth and black smoke. 
One clearly saw as if on a luminous screen 



236 The Diary of a German Soldier 

several human bodies hurled to a great height 
by the force of the explosion. 

Lindwurm, as I said before, gave his orders 
for half -past eleven. But no one moved ex- 
cept a few new men recently arrived in the 
battalion. Lieutenant Becker, only nineteen 
years old, immediately sent word that his com- 
pany refused to leave the trenches, unless Lind- 
wurm himself came to the front line to lead the 
attack at the head of his battalion. Lindwurm 
replied by repeating the order to attack imme- 
diately and said that he had to stay behind to 
direct all stages of the attack. One must ad- 
mit that in principle he was right, but his cow- 
ardice in the past had exasperated the soldiers. 

The delay caused by this incident made us 
lose all the benefits of the confusion brought 
about by the explosion of the mine. The whole 
affair was a failure and it was we who were 
the object of a furious attack from the French, 
who immediately seized their opportunity. 
We had to defend ourselves, and it was only 
through hard work and with great loss that we 
held our positions. The engineer who had ex- 



Douai — in Champagne 237 

ploded the mine and who wanted to win the 
Iron Cross of the first class, made a brave coun- 
ter attack with his fifteen men. He was killed 
and all his men, except two who came back, 
were killed, wounded or taken prisoners. 

At the close of the affair the regiment was 
severely reprimanded by the general command- 
ing the army corps. 

*'It is an act of cowardice and a crime," said 
the general, " to refuse to obey. It is not the 
soldier's business what his superior does. He 
has only to obey and to execute the orders given 
him. If this happens again, the severest meas- 
ures will be taken." 

Rogge added his remarks to this reproach, 
accusing the regiment of mutiny. 

As punishment the battalion had to stay in 
the trenches several extra days, but the soldiers 
made light of it, for existence was even more 
disagreeable when off duty than on. We were 
not relieved till the 13th of December. 
Wlien we were sent to the rear, Rogge assem- 
bled the battalion and made a speech in which 
he said he was ashamed to be in command of 



238 The Diary of a German Soldier 

such cowards. He announced that sanction 
had been given for a certain number of men 
to be chosen from each company and sent to 
another regiment. When the men had with- 
drawn, hissing and grumbhng, it was the turn 
of the officers and the non-coms whom he had 
detained. 

"You have heard me, gentlemen. I have 
kept you to tell you that this disobedience is the 
result of your indulgence of these peasants, 
who do only what they want. You treat them 
as equals and they make fun of you and your 
orders. You must never speak to them in a 
friendly way, but on the contrary, treat them 
severely. The disgrace of the 2nd Battalion 
rests on me. I trust that a like occurrence 
will not take place again," 

When Rogge was gone, Hamishmacher, 
who was serving as an officer, said : 

"Rogge is great on making speeches but he 
never comes within the lines himself and pre- 
fers to soak himself with wine and iji the com- 
pany of the biggest drunkards of the regiment. 
I would like to be selected to leave this regi- 



Douai — in Champagne 239 

ment, which is nothing but a society of anti- 
quated fighters and cowards." 

Lindwurm listened to all of this without 
saying a word. 

During the seven hours that the battalion 
was resting, they tortured the men by pro- 
longed drills as punishment. Many became 
ill, but Major Fisher of the medical corps said 
to them: "As long as you can stand on your 
feet I'll pay no attention to you." 

One day a man of the 7th Company, who 
was in great pain and whom he had just 
sent away in this manner, took a gun by the 
barrel and struck him a terrible blow. Dr. 
Fisher, almost beaten to death, fell fainting 
and had to be sent to the hospital. The man 
was arrested and put in prison, where he hung 
himself during the night. This accident made 
the officers a httle more careful during the next 
few days. 

On December 21st, we returned to the 
trenches. We had not been relieved when our 
turn came after the explosion of the mine, so 
the 3rd Battalion spent Christmas in the 



240 The Diary of a German Soldier 

front line trenches. Christmas Eve, Lind- 
wurm sent the men great quantities of wine 
and rum. There was at least one bottle for 
every four men. The result of this gen- 
erosity could not be in doubt; everybody was 
drunk and if the French had attacked us then 
they would have captured the whole battalion 
without firing a shot. New Year's Day was 
celebrated in the same way in the trenches 
onjy they gave out less alcohol in order to 
avoid the general drunkenness of Christmas 
Eve. 

When we reached our resting place behind 
the lines on January 4th lectures were given 
every day for the men on the soldier's duties, 
still on account of their disobedience on De- 
cember 4th. The men had to repeat and 
memorize the twenty-nine rules of war. 

The first article is as follows: "I swear be- 
fore God Ahnighty, to be faithful to His Ma- 
jesty WiUiehn II, King of Prussia, Emperor 
of Germany, never to desert him, to help him 
and defend him under all circumstances on land 
and sea, in peace and in war." 



Douai — in Champagne 241 

On January 15th, 1916, after another so- 
journ in the front line we were relieved by the 
81st Reserve Regiment of the 18th Corps, and 
sent before Verdun to take part in the Crown 
Prince's big attack on this fortress. It was 
there that I was severely wounded at the be- 
ginning of the attack. 



A 



XXVIII 

^ VERDUN— FRANKFORT— 
MAYENCE 

Feom January 16th to February 18th, 1916, 
we rested at Savigny without once going into 
the trenches. Without a doubt they wanted 
us to recover our strength for the big drive 
against Verdun. 

On February 18th we left for Thionville, 
where we spent the night in barracks located 
near the station. The nineteenth we were at 
Stenay, where the Crown Prince had his head- 
quarters, then at Reville, where we rested for 
several hours. During the night we went into 
the trenches between Brabant and Beaumont. 
We were placed between the 35th and 118th 
regiments of the 56th Division. 

On February 21st, 1916, toward five o'clock 
in the morning a heavy artillery fire began 
such as we had never heard before, even in 

242 



Verdun — Frankfort — Mayence 243 

Champagne. From the whizzing of the shells 
we could tell at once that only the heavy pieces 
were being fired. 

At nine o'clock we were ordered to attack 
and take the fort of Bras on our right. The 
French put up a strong resistance and we ad- 
vanced very slowly. The battle of Cham- 
pagne had certainly been terrible, but it was 
nothing compared to what was going on here 
in the thick of the fighting. One felt that the 
methods used were of such magnitude that it 
was beyond the power of the imagination to 
grasp it. The fire of the heavy German ar- 
tillery was something terrific; the sensation 
was as though every conceivable kind of engine 
of war had been gathered together. We were 
engaged in a huge battle in which one regi- 
ment was nothing at all. It was no longer a 
question of giving and obeying orders (I am 
speaking of what concerns a battalion) ; that 
was impossible. We ran forward, for to re- 
treat was just as dangerous as to advance. We 
were between two fires: the German artillery 
firing before us and the French on the site 



244 The Diary of a German Soldier 

which we had just left. At last we arrived at 
the first French trench. We thought we could 
take it easily, but we were wrong, for the few 
soldiers who were holding it fought desper- 
ately. In several places the wounded kept on 
fighting furiously before they fell under our 
blows. Not a section surrendered; such were 
the orders given the small detachments and 
even isolated individuals. At last we were in 
possession of th^ trench, which had been com- 
pletely ruined by the heavy German artillery. 
It was a, frightful chaos of human wreckage. 
One heard groans which seemed to rise from 
the very bowels of the earth — ^the cries of the 
unfortunates buried alive in their shelters. 
We were forced to instal ourselves in these 
positions and lie down to escape the fire of the 
French artillery. On the twenty-second we 
had to search through the packs of the dead 
for food. We were not exactly hungry but 
we did not know what to do, and we ate 
mechanically. 

The following day, the twenty-third, Lind- 
wurm ordered me to go to the rear with a sol- 



Verdun — Frankfort — Mayence 245 

dier to report to the head of the regiment that 
the battahon had been entu^ely broken up and 
that many soldiers belonging to other regi- 
ments were mixed in with us. 

We left the trenches. The shells were burst- 
ing everywhere. We had not gone quite sixty 
metres behind the line when suddenly I saw 
my companion fighting like mad while I felt 
a blow on my right side. I fell — I remem- 
bered afterwards — screaming "Help " like a 
fool. Then I fainted, and I have never learned 
how long I remained unconscious. 

When I opened my eyes I was in a bed in 
the field-hospital at Stenay. It was February 
26th. The orderly told me that I had been 
brought to the hospital during the night of the 
twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth. 

I had a wound in my right side. At my re- 
quest the head surgeon promised me to do 
his best to send me to the hospital at Frank- 
fort-on-Main, the headquarters of the 18th 
Army Corps. He kept his promise. 

The twenty-eighth I was sent away by au- 
tomobile to Longuyon and was taken at once 



246 The Diary of a German Soldier 

to Frankfort in a Red Cross train, a wonder- 
ful hospital on wheels, very comfortable, and 
well organized. There was in my compart- 
ment a French lieutenant and an Arabian of- 
ficer, both wounded at Verdun. The doctor 
gave each of us an injection of morphine and 
we fell asleep. 

I woke up in the hospital at Frankfort, in- 
stalled in a comfortable room together with the 
French lieutenant. 

I was extremely well taken care of by the 
doctors. Concerning the ladies of the Ger- 
man Red Cross, I wish to say that they make 
life very hard for the English and the Germans 
but pet and spoil the French like little children. 
I had the proof of this at Frankfort. The 
lady who looked after the French officer and 
myself was the wife of Dr. S — — , who was at 
the front. She gave the lieutenant absolutely 
everything he wanted, even what the doctor 
forbade. To me she refused almost every- 
thing. As she spoke a little French she 
would come when her patient was not asleep 
to chat with him. The Frenchman, who had 



Verdun — Frankfort — Mayence 247 

noticed that she refused me everything, told 
me that he would ask her for whatever I 
needed as if it were for himself. As a result 
all my desu-es were gratified without her 
kfiowing it. She did not know that I spoke 
French, and did not bother about what she 
said to her lieutenant in front of me. She 
asked him questions about Parisian life, espe- 
cially about the women. "Don't you miss 
your sweethearts? It must be very sad for a 
young man hke you to be separated from his 
httle friend," etc., she would say simperingly. 
I who heard all this and saw her little intrigue 
enjoj^ed myself immensely where I lay and 
made a great effort not to laugh on account of 
my wound. Sometimes when she got too ten- 
der the French officer politely begged her to 
let him sleep a while, because he felt tired. 

As soon as she left the room we laughed so 
hard that we forgot our sorrows. 

One day while we were dozing she came in 
softly. I made believe I was sound asleep 
but watched her out of the corner of my 
eye. She gazed lovingly on the slumbering 



248 The Diary of a German Soldier 

French officer and then bending over him she 
kissed him on the forehead. 

On March 20th I had the joy of kissing my 

mother. Our hospital nurse, Mme. S , 

having discovered that I understood French 
had me removed to another section, where I 
was taken care of by an orderly. I stayed 
at the hospital till June 26th. I had a fifteen- 
day furlough, which I planned to spend at 
Fulda with my mother. I was not entirely 
well, for my mother was opposed to a danger- 
ous operation which the doctor wished to make 
and which he told me would either completely 
cure me or prove fatal. 

During my fifteen days of convalescence I 
was able to see the suffering of the civiHan 
population of Germany. 

On July 10th I reported at Mayence where 
I found our battalion of young recruits whom 
I drilled for about twenty days. 

At last on August 1st I rejoined my bat- 
talion at the front which was not far from 
Verdun, between Neuvilly and Aubreville. 
Lindwurm, Rickert and Loffelhardt were still 



Verdun — Frankfort — Mayence 249 

there. All the other officers were dead, 
wounded or missing. They were all sad for 
the big drive against Verdun had failed and 
our position was anything but agreeable. 
Loffelhardt and I were thoroughly disgusted 
with this war in which, however, we had done 
our duty and risked our lives so often for more 
than two years. 

On October 20th my wound which had not 
healed well gave me so much pain that I went 
to the hospital at Valenciennes whither my 
battalion had returned. I was sent back a 
second time to the hospital at Frankfort where 
they dismissed me in two days telling me that 
I would not have to return to the front. On 
the twenty-eighth I received my ticket at 
Hanau for Ober Jersdal in the north of 
Schleswig on the Danish border. 



XXIX 

AT THE DANISH BORDER 

I WAS enrolled at Ober Jersdal in an 
auxiliary corps assigned to the duty of build- 
ing defences on the Danish frontier. Cap- 
tain Kopp, my chief, gave me permission to 
live in the town. 

In crossing Germany I was able to notice 
the many precautions taken to prevent espion- 
age and indiscretions. Travelling officers had 
to remove their epaulets so that no one would 
know to what regiment they belonged or 
where they had come from. 

I went on duty with my new battalion on 
November 10th. Almost all the soldiers were 
war cripples. 

We haa to dig trenches from Hadersleben 
to Tondern in case of an English attack by 
way of Denmark. Our sector extended from 
Nieder Jersdal to Aokaer and Skovby where 

250 



At the Danish Border 251 

all cultivation had been destroyed. Huge 
tunnels had been excavated, regular catacombs 
and deep concrete trenches fortified by hidden 
cannon and machine guns. At Skovby I 
counted in a small space six of the heaviest 
guns and twenty-four machine guns placed in 
concrete shelters. At Nieder Jersdal a family 
were forced to leave their house so that the 
basement might be mined. A barrier of wires 
heavily charged with electricity was stretched 
from Nieder Jersdal to Ober Jersdal. The 
source of the current was underground. 
Countless wagons were bringing the materials 
necessary for the fortifications to Flensbourg. 
All the inhabitants of this country with 
whom I had occasion to speak talked Danish 
and considered themselves Danish. They did 
not hke to speak German. . . . 

• •.•••' 

(Here end Feldwebel C 's Memoirs) 



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